Like a Vampire for Revenge
by xDawntiger
Summary: Lucy and Natsu are twins, which means they're both fire dragon slayers. Lucy is weak though, and gets teased a lot. One day, a tragedy happens, and everyone thinks she has died, when she actually was saved by a wolf. 7 years later, she returns to Fairy Tail, but she has changed, and nobody recognizes her. But that's what she wants, until she fulfills a rashly made promise. GraLu
1. Prologue

***9-19-12* I've fixed up this chapter a lot. It was all clumped together in a few paragraphs before, some parts seemed out of place, and it just was really bad xD  
I realized that I probably lost a lot of potential readers because of the semi-bad prologue...**

**The only major difference is that Lisanna is now replaced by Levy. It'll help something later on make more sense. But still, even if you read the first one, I'd suggest reading this one too. There's a couple things I added. :3  
**

* * *

**I'm a beginner, so sorry if it's bad…but I read a lot(well, mostly fanfics, nowadays…lol), and I hope I've just picked up stuff from that.…^-^**

**I don't know what else to say here...so let's get on with the story! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail(what's the point of these, anyways? -_-)**

* * *

It was afternoon in Magnolia, and a light snow was falling...

"Haha, Lucy, you're useless!" a rosy-haired boy said, smirking. "You were no help at all during the mission, your snowman-dog thing just stood there doing that "pun-pun" thing!" He started laughing at the memory.

"Yeah, that little snowman of yours is weaker than a fly!" Gray joined in, also smirking.

"Natsu, Gray, don't be mean!" Levy ordered, coming up behind the boys, trying to stand up for her friend.

A blonde girl cowered in front of them, crying, the snow dusting her head and shoulders.

"See, you made her cry!" an armored girl yelled, which just made Lucy even more scared. "Lucy! Don't listen to them!"

"'Lucy! Don't listen to them!'" Gray jeered, "Erza, don't you secretly agree with us that she's weak?"

Erza started yelling at him for even just suggesting that she thought her friend was weak.

This was actually a pretty normal day…..Lucy was constantly bullied. She and her twin brother had the same magic; they were both fire dragon slayers. But she could barely use her magic. She had inherited a Celestial Spirit key from their mother, but it was just a…thing that resembled a snowman. The only good point about it was that it was cute. Well, only if you like snowman-dog creatures that are constantly trembling and looking completely pathetic. Why couldn't her mother have given her something stronger? Like….a lion or something? But then again, with her weak magic power, she probably couldn't handle something any stronger than Plue.

She was so tired of this though. She admitted that she was a weak and pathetic pushover; she had tolerated them so long, but even she could get frustrated and angry. But Natsu and Gray didn't seem to realize that. She didn't want to put up with being bullied anymore. Seriously, even her own twin was being mean to her. He had been for the past few years.

Levy had given her some books with really strong and brave characters, and Lucy admired them. Although she could never be like them, she liked to daydream about beating Natsu. She occasionally managed to stand up to him, with inspiration from these characters, although she always lost her confidence immediately. Maybe she could try it again today. Trying to gather all her courage, she looked straight at Natsu.

"I-1'll get strong, no matter what you say!" She blurted, immediately regretting it when she saw his reaction.

_'Why, why does he have to hate me so much?' _She thought, turning to run, an impulsive escape.

Suddenly, she felt herself falling, and in an instant the ground was almost right in front of her face.

"Haha, that looks sooo convincing! Tripping over your own feet, you're so clumsy!" Gray said, laughing, before Erza poked him with her sword, making him shut up.

Levy put her hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to comfort her, "Lucy, it's okay. Don't let them hurt you."

"B-but I-I really am w-weak..." The blonde managed to say between sobs, her small amount of confidence having suddenly disappeared, like always. She was sitting on the ground, her dress streaked with dirt. A visible bruise was on her knee, from falling. Her friends always said not to let the boy's mean words get to her, but that was impossible.

"Why can't you believe her?" Levy asked, completely ignoring the obvious answer. But hey, she was trying to be nice and supportive. She believed that Lucy could someday be strong. Why couldn't everyone see that even the weak have potential?

"Huh? Isn't that obvious?" Natsu replied, sticking his hands in his pockets and leaning towards them. "Wait…I'll say you're strong if you can beat me by our 15th birthday."

"YOU IDIOT! WHY SO LONG?" The red-head yelled. Gray sighed in relief as her attention was turned away from him.

"Ain't it obvious? Because if she can become strong, it's gonna take a while," he said, chuckling. He was having fun with this. His sister? Beat him? Actually, his sister beating anyone? What a joke.

"Okay," The blonde said, making everyone look at her. "I-I'll show you I can be strong!" With this, she took off running again, trying to suppress her tears.

"Hey! LUCY! COME BACK!" both other girls yelled, but she didn't make any move to stop.

"NATSU! GO APOLOGIZE TO HER!" Erza yelled, pointing her sword at him.

"Huhh? Why meee?" he whined.

"BECAUSE YOU WERE THE IDIOT WHO MADE HER RUN AWAY!"

At this, he decided it was better to obey. Talking back once was dangerous enough, and he didn't want to die at a young age. Reluctantly, he ran after his twin sister, leaving both other girls yelling at Gray.

Lucy had managed to get pretty far while they had been arguing, but he was a fast runner, so it didn't matter much. Glancing around at his surroundings, he realized that they were heading onto a path in the mountains around the edge of Magnolia. There was a rocky wall on one side, and a steep drop on the other. On the other side of that was another rock wall; they were next to a thin ravine. Since they had just come back from a job, it wasn't far at all from where they had been to here.

Suddenly, he heard a loud rumbling noise. He stopped, but his twin kept running. His eyes suddenly widened as he realized what it was. A large boulder was rolling down the hill. It was a bit ahead of Lucy, but…by the time it reached the path…..

He was terrified-Yes, he, the mighty Natsu Dragneel who did everything possible to separate himself from his weak sister, was scared-, and couldn't move. All he could do was watch as the rock hit his sister, knocking her off the steep drop at the edge of the path they were on.

She let out an ear piercing scream-a scream which he'd continue hearing 'till years later- bringing him back to life.

Dropping to his knees at the edge of the path, he looked down into the darkness between the rock walls.

"LUUUCCCCYYYY!"

The snow continued falling...cold, freezing, depressing...like it had been awaiting her death.

* * *

Seven years later, a young girl sat in a chair outside a coffee shop in a peaceful little town. "We're almost at Magnolia…and then it's just 3 months."

A large lump of fur next to her lifted its head. "Yes…3 months till your 15th birthday."

The girl smirked. The day she had been waiting for was finally arriving.

* * *

**Well…how was it? I'm like, panicking right now….D: The part with the rock knocking her off the cliff seems really lame to me….but idk how to make it better…Same with the snow parts...and how she found courage in the book characters. I came up with that part really quickly cause I realized that her suddenly having courage was really unrealistic. d:**

**If it was confusing(since it's a bit AU), don't worry. I'll be explaining everything eventually :3**

**Sorry that I made Natsu and Gray mean, and Lucy really weak…but the plot wouldn't work otherwise.../:**

**I've wrote the next chapter, but it was really bad…so I'm rewriting it ._.**

**I'll try not to make the rest of the story this depressing, I promise. I don't like depressing stories…but somehow I ended up writing this, lol.**

**I have no idea how many chapters this will have. I wanna make it longish though.**

**Please review :D I'd like some constructive criticism. ^-^**

**And, should I add GraLu? If not, there'll be Gruvia.**

**Oh, and I LOVE snow. But it seemed better to make it depressing for this story...**

* * *

***9-19-12* I feel like I used "she" way too much -_-****  
****Oh well, hoped you liked it. :3 I'm not really proud of it, but it's wayyyy better than before, haha. I'll probably fix-up the rest of the chapters too, eventually. But this was definitely first priority, lol, and now I need to just focus on writing new chapters xD**


	2. Return

***12-15-12*  
Slightly fixed up this chapter.**

* * *

**I'm shocked that this got so many visitors, was added to so many favorites lists, and got so many reviews. :D Thank you sooo much, everyone :D**

**I'll reply to a few of the reviews ^-^**  
**Oh, and everyone wanted GraLu, so I'll do that.**

**Taelin-x - She will. :D**

**Nope. It was Lucy saying that...was it confusing? :/**

**FairyTailFTW- That was just the prologue, so I will be trying to make the chapters longer.**

**Princess Happy - That'll be explained. Just read and see~ **

**Cache Ame Pour le-Filles- I was thinking that too, but it was kind of hard to do it...I'll try harder though..**

**GoldenRoseLuceTaya- Just because the characters are Natsu and Lucy doesn't mean it's NaLu... **

**AmaixRodo96- I've actually tried to write before, but always quickly lost interest. So I'm not exactly a first timer...but yet I kinda am, since this is the farthest I've ever gotten xD**

**Le'Mademoiselle Au-lette- Thanks. That's good to know xD **

**and thank you, everyone who I didn't reply to :D**

**Oh, Lucy fell into a gorge/canyon. That's why it was dark and they couldn't see the bottom. I forgot to specify that...**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

A pink-haired boy stood at the window of his house, painfully remembering that tragic day...

-Flashback-

_They had gone to get the help of some other Fairy Tail members, and managed to get to the bottom of the cliff by combining some of their magic. It was a narrow ravine, just wide enough that Lucy hadn't been knocked into the other side by the boulder. All they could find was some blood, and the scent of a wolf. The only logical reason was that she had been carried off…to be…eaten...  
They tried to track the scent with the help of Natsu's strong nose, but lost it at a river. They eventually went back to the guild, devastated, and the ones closest to the girl were in tears. More searches were done for a couple weeks, but no luck.  
_

_Lucy had just…died…like that…it was all too sudden…_

-End Flashback-

-An hour later-

'_Why is Natsu so forgetful?' _a blue cat angrily thought to himself as he flew through Magnolia. Team Natsu was going on a mission, but Natsu had forgotten something at their house, and had sent Happy to get it.

Suddenly, the cat noticed that everyone was staring at something. He glanced in the direction everyone was looking, and almost dropped what he was holding. There was a teenage girl, walking next to…a _wolf_. A real, live wolf. Happy had always thought that wolves were horrible, cruel creatures(plus, they looked like dogs, which had probably affected his opinion)…but here was one, walking through Magnolia.

…

SMACK

Happy rubbed his head, as he stared at the pole he had just flown into. _'I guess I should pay attention instead of staring at people…Aye!_' he thought, and continued flying, deciding that someone at the guild might know about the wolf.

-::-::-::-

"Happy! Did you get it?" Natsu asked as the cat flew into the guild. "Aye, sir!"

"Now we can go on the missi-" He broke off, sniffing the air.

"What's wrong, Natsu?" Wendy asked

"I smell…something weird…"

"Huh? What do you mean, flame-brain?"

"YOU DON'T SMELL IT, POPSICLE?"

"I DON'T HAVE AN _AMAZING_ NOSE LIKE YOURS"

"YOU SHOULD!"

"WHY WOULD I WANT ONE?"

"GUYS! STOP FIGHTING!"

"HOW WOULD I KNOW?"

"BUT YOU JUST TOLD ME…"

"I SAID _STOP_!"

-::-::-::-

The girl from before stood outside Fairy Tail. "Well, Kera…This is it."

"Are you ready for this?" the wolf asked.

"I think so…I hope so." The girl said as she stepped through the guild doors.

Nobody noticed her at first, so she just looked around, slowly taking in all the changes. Memories started flooding her mind.

"HUH? WHAT DID I TELL YOU?"

The girl stiffened at the voice…it was deeper…but definitely _him_. She had almost hoped that he was on a mission or something, so that she could avoid meeting him for longer…even if that would just be running away.

She slowly turned in the direction the voice came from.

"DON'T SAY STUFF AND IMMEDIATELY FORGET IT, BONFIRE!"

She had spotted the source of the voice, and was walking towards it. She almost felt like she was being pulled toward him…

By this time, people had noticed her, and were staring. Some got ready to attack. The members who were around at the time of Lucy's "death" remembered the wolf scent, and weren't exactly fans of the big creatures.

"Oh! The scent! It's stronger now! Really strong!" Natsu said, sniffing the air.

"N-nat-…" the newcomer said, then broke off. She wasn't supposed to be like this. It was just the shock of coming back and seeing him, right?

She was now standing at the table, and after hearing her speak, everyone in Team Natsu turned to look at her.

"Ah! You're the smelly thing!"

"Natsu! Don't insult strangers!"

The words struck her hard. _'A stranger…I guess that really is what I seem like…but still, I come back, and that's the first thing they say…"_

"Hey, what's wrong?" A hand was being waved in front of her face. She realized she had been in a daze, and shook her head, getting rid of any depressing thoughts.

She saw Gray's face inches away from hers. Was this really Gray? He was really…hot… "I-I'm fine…."

"You sure?" Gray asked. She noticed he was half-naked. _'Some things never change…' _

"Yeah, I'm sure." She replied.

"Are you here to join?" Erza asked.

The girl turned to look at her, and ended up staring. Again. It would take a while to get used to being back here…

"Uhh…yeah. I need to talk to the master first though."

"Oh, he should be in his office. Just go down that hall. Second door on the left," the red-head said, pointing.

"Thanks," she replied as she walked in that direction.

As the girl left, Wendy spoke. "I wonder who she is?"

"She seemed like she knew Natsu…"

"Hey, flame-brain, do you know her?"

"I don't think so…She smelled a bit familiar though…I can't think of what it was though…" Natsu said, with a puzzled expression.

"We'll know when she tells us her name."

"Aye!"

"Wait…her smell was different than the other one..."

"What do you mean?"

"Natsu's right. There were two different smells."

"I saw her earlier!"

"Really? You should've told us sooner!"

"I forgot…! But! She had a wolf!"

"A WOLF?"

Somehow, all of them, even Erza, had failed to notice the wolf that had been behind the girl all along, and who was now following the girl to the office.(A/N: I just couldn't fit it in, okay? xD)

-::-::-::-

The girl was in a daze as she walked towards the office. "I'm getting more emotional than I thought I would be…" She said as she nervously ran her fingers through her dyed brown hair. The wolf made a sympathetic sounding noise.

They had reached the office. She took a deep breath, then knocked.

"Come in," a voice said from behind the door.

The tiny man turned around as the door opened.

His eyes widened a bit in shock at the unfamiliar person in front of him, and the creature behind her. "What do you want?"

She paused a moment, and then slowly pulled the glove off her right hand. Makarov's eyes almost bulged out of his head. Wait. This had to be some kind of joke...right?

The girl, getting no response from the man, handed the glove to the wolf, who gently took it with it's mouth. She slipped the hair tie off her ponytail, letting her hair flow around her shoulders, and then held up some of it up in a side ponytail, the hairstyle she used to always wear.

"I would like to join again..."

"Ah…You've been a member all these years, since your mark was never removed, my child," even if she looked way different, and was supposed to be dead, it was definitely her.

She smiled. "Okay."

"Do the others know?"

"No...I want to keep my return a secret at first...is that okay?"

"If that's what you really want, than yes, and I won't ask any questions..."

"Okay. My name now is..."

They headed back out to the guild hall. "EVERYONE!" Makarov shouted, with a voice that didn't fit his size. Everyone turned to look at him. "MEET OUR NEW FRIEND, OOKAMI HAJIME!" Everyone cheered, and the girl smiled. She was Lucy Dragneel, and she'd succeed in her goal.

* * *

**I had some trouble figuring out her personality. I wanted her to be pretty much like she is in the anime/manga, but with a bit of sadist(mainly just to Natsu) . I hope she doesn't seem like her personality changes. Cause in the prologue she sounded really confident, and then here she's more nervous...**

**I had a really hard time deciding on her alias. It took foreverrrr. I still don't think it's that great, but whatever... -_- I just kept looking up things in a Japanese dictionary that were somehow related to the story, lol.**

**I made one of the genres humor, but idk if I can make it funny...**

**I feel like this isn't as good as the prologue, but please review. :D  
Also, I'm accepting suggestions for when she reveals who she is. Different people will learn at different times, so I need a few ideas...**


	3. Can't Get a Word in Edgewise

**Thanks again, everyone ^-^**

**I kinda did this in a hurry, so I don't explain much. SORRYY D:  
**

**I've been thinking about this story pretty much nonstop, but I just couldn't motivate myself to write it.  
This is mostly just a filler...I promise the next chapter will be more interesting. :/**

**I decided to give up on making it funny. I'll try to add in a few funny parts, but I changed the genre. Sorry :|**

**I realized that in the last chapter, I should of tried harder(I did, try, but failed...) to fit in an explanation of what she looks like. . Sorry D: It's the first part here though ^-^**

**BTW, in case you don't know, a glomp is pretty much a mix between a hug and a tackle...I mention it in this chapter, and don't want anybody to be confused...xD**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Fairy Tail. I do own the plot and Kera though.**

* * *

Gray stared at the newcomer. Her brown hair was a bit past her shoulders and her bangs fell in her face. Her right eye was red, and she had an eyepatch over her left eye. She was wearing a plain brown tank top, with jean shorts, and combat boots. She wore black elbow-length gloves on both hands. Happy had been right about the wolf. It was large, and had long, thick pure white fur, and brown eyes. It seemed calm, but Gray was cautious, like the other guild members had been earlier(and still were). Who was this girl? Why had she seemed to know Natsu?

"Does she look kinda familiar to you?" Erza asked, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe...She probably just looks like someone we met on a job, or something".

"Hmm...yeah...you're right".

"She smells familiar too...I can't place it though...".

"Let's go talk to her".

"You sure the wolf is safe?"

"I'll fight it if I have to. I think we should just find out if she's an enemy or not first", Erza said while walking up to the girl, who had sat down at the bar. The rest of Team Natsu followed.

-Lucy POV-

Everyone had cheered when Makarov introduced her, but was probably just a habit A few people had come up and welcomed her, but nobody she knew. It was depressing, but it wasn't like she had expected everyone to come glomp her.  
She sat down at the bar, petting Kera's head. A girl who looked a bit like Mira came up to her

"Welcome~" The white-haired woman said, smiling.

"Thanks"

"Hey Mira, do you have any fish?" A voice said, and a blue cat landed on the counter, next to Lucy. She jerked away from him a bit, subconsciously fearing that he would somehow figure out who she was just by being close to her.

"Yes, Happy, I have fish. Let me go get it~" Mira said, turning around and walking to the kitchen.

Happy then noticed the wolf. He glared at it. Wolves were like dogs. And he hated all dogs. The wolf turned its head away, making Happy even madder. Lucy was still petting Kera, deep in thought, apparently not noticing the sparks flying between the two creatures.

"Welcome to the guild"  
She turned around and saw Team Natsu. She had seen a few newspaper articles about them, so she knew they were still Team Natsu.

Erza was the one who had spoke. She had a kind smile on her face. Gray, Wendy and Natsu stood next to her.

"Thanks" Lucy said, feeling awkward.

"Where are you from?"

"Some city you've probably never heard of"

"What kind of magic do you use?" Natsu asked eagerly, his fist on fire.

"You'll figure that out later" She replied, smiling to herself about the fun she could have.

"Natsu, don't interrupt my conversation"

"Sorry, Erza" He said, backing away.

_"same as always..." _Lucy thought, smiling.

"So, getting back to our conversation...Why did you join Fairy Tail?" Erza normally didn't ask newcomers questions like this, but she just couldn't ignore her suspicions about this girl.

She had prepared herself for this question, since she obviously couldn't say her real reason. "I'm a traveling mage. I read some newspaper articles about Fairy Tail, thought it seemed fun, and just decided it would be nice to settle down in one place"

"You seemed to know Natsu. Plus you look a bit familiar...have we met before?"

Lucy stiffened. She had figured that they might recognize her, but it still made her really nervous. "Ah...uh..I don't think so. Natsu looks a bit like someone I know...but then I recognized him and realized it wasn't my friend and said his name out of shock, and uh yeah..."

Erza stared at her, apparently trying to figure out if it was true or not. "Okay"

Lucy sweatdropped. _"Was it really that believable?"_

"Would you like me to introduce you to everyone?" Wendy asked._  
_

"Sure" Lucy smiled. "Start with yourself"

Team Natsu took her around the guild, introducing her to all their friends. She knew most of them, but some were new. It was hard to pretend like she was meeting them for the first time.

They were now sitting at a table, chatting. Lucy had wanted to try to distance herself from them a bit, but she didn't want to straight out refuse to sit with them. She couldn't have them figuring out who she was before her birthday. Well, she really only cared about Natsu not finding out, but if the others knew, he'd also find out before long. She'd also like to mercilessly torture Gray, and a few other guys...but that wasn't as important as Natsu.

"Hey, would you like to go on a mission with us?" Gray's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. If only he knew what she had just been thinking...

"Uh...I would rather g-"

She was cut off as someone put their arm over her shoulder, knocking her forward. "Yeah! Come with us, Kami!" His idiocy apparently causing him to completely forget that he hated wolves(A/N: lame, right? sorry xD). She flinched and pushed him off.

"I don't remember giving you permission to give me a nickname" She said, wishing she could punch him.

"But it's easier to say than Ookami!"

"...Fine. But I'm not going on a mis-"

"Doesn't this one look cool?" Natsu shoved the paper, for the mission they had been about to go on, in her face, obviously ignoring what she was saying.

"I told yo-"

"Hey, Mira! Kami's coming on the mission too! " Natsu yelled, looking at Mira.

"Okay~"

Now, Lucy was mad. Well, madder than before. WHY THE HECK WAS HER BROTHER STILL SO ANNOYING? She glanced at Gray, Erza and Wendy. Were they...laughing? Was it _funny_ that she could barely get a word in edgewise?

"Look, I said _NO_" Yay, she finally managed to finish what she was saying.

"Huh? You did?"

Standing up, she slammed her hands onto the table. "I'M NOT GOING, OKAY?"

"Oh yes you are!" Erza stood up too. "There shouldn't be anything else you need to do, _right_?"

"Ughhh...I'll come, okay?" No harm done in knocking out a few bandits or finding some lost item, or whatever the request had said, it had been to close to her face for her to read it. She was just really panicked...how was she going to endure 3 months of this?

"YAYYY~" yelled a very happy pink haired teen. For some reason, he swore this girl smelled like a dragon slayer...And he wanted to find out why.

* * *

******Ughh...I need to put in so many explanations** -_-  
**So, please, if you think something is marysue-ish or something because it doesn't make enough sense, just continue reading, or ask about it D: The next chapter is just a mission, but I plan on explaining a lot...**

**Kera's really being a problem. It's hard to remember her when writing. :| And it's hard to remember that Ookami is Lucy, and not an OC... **  
**And, Natsu forgetting he hates wolves sounds really stupid, but I think it's actually not very OOC? xD**

**Anyways, I'll try to update within a week. I'll try...no promises xD  
**


	4. Trains

**Okay so, there's something I changed slightly, so….Pleaseee imagine the scene where they find the wolf scent with them way more shocked. Actually, I wish I could take it out altogether. The story would work better without it. ;~;**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.  
**

* * *

Team Natsu was now walking through Magnolia, heading to the train station.

Lucy sighed. Why had she agreed to go on this mission? She'd be stuck with Team Natsu for at least a day. She was fine with Erza and Wendy, but the guys…she couldn't stand being around them. And their obliviousness to her hatred made it even worse.

"So, Kami, uh…is your…wolf…you know…safe?

She turned to see Gray walking beside her. She glared at him. "I gave Natsu permission to stop him from annoying me, but that doesn't mean you can use it too."

"Ah…sorry…"

"Yes…the wolf is safe…why do you want to know?" She was curious if it had anything to do with her "death". She had overheard some people talking about it at one point, so she had an idea of what happened.

"I was just…wondering."

She decided to continue asking. "Did something happen?"

Gray turned away. "N-not really…."

Lucy frowned. _I guess I didn't really expect him to explain everything to a random girl he just met…_

"Ah, there's the train station" Gray pointed to a large building down the street.

Lucy snapped her head towards him _"train?"_

"Uh, yeah?"

She stared at him, shocked. She had been to busy being angry and panicking about other stuff that she had completely forgot that they'd have to take a train.

"Is something wrong?"

"U-uh, no. Not really. Nothing wrong." She stuttered, trying to regain her composure.

"Okay….if you say so…" _Did I pronounce it wrong or something?_

They entered the station, and Lucy looked around. "woahh…"

"Last I knew, train stations weren't anything to be amazed about."

Lucy hadn't meant to say anything "Uh, yeah…I guess…"

"You've been to a train station before, right?"

Lucy stared at him again, putting her hand on Kera's head. They had avoided vehicles whenever possible. She'd only been to a train station a few times, they rarely had to travel long distances in a short time.

"Wait, really?"

"Of course, of course I've been to a train station. Everyone has, right?"

"Guys, the train is coming soon. Let's get our tickets" Erza interrupted their conversation.

"Why do we have to take a train _again_? Why can't we walk? It's not _that_ far…" Natsu whined. Erza ignored him, making him whine even more.

Lucy understood why he was complaining so much. She almost spoke up to support him, but stopped herself.

-On the train-

Lucy leaned against Kera, and buried her face in the wolf's thick fur. She couldn't let Team Natsu know she had motion sickness, and Kera's warmth was comforting and always helped with when they were on vehicles. Kera was her best friend, but she didn't like strangers, so she had been quiet the whole time they were at Fairy Tail. It made Lucy feel lonely. She sighed, and snuggled closer to Kera. It reminded her of when she had waken up with this same warmth, 7 years ago.

_She felt warmth next to her. Her body ached, and it was welcoming. She reached towards it, and her fingers touched something soft and fluffy. She slowly opened her eyes, and saw white in front of her. She looked up and saw brown eyes staring at her. She jerked back, but a sharp pain shot through her arm, and she winced. "Stay still" the white, fluffy brown-eyed creature spoke. Lucy obeyed. She looked around, making sure to keep her arm still. The animal was large, and beautiful yet very dangerous-looking. It was laying next to Lucy, tearing apart some kind of small animal, chomping on it, bones and all. They appeared to be under a tree. Branches hung to the ground, away from the trunk, forming a cave-like area next to it. _

"_W-Who are you?" She asked, nervously, not knowing if she was in danger._

"_Call me Kera, I'm a wolf"_

"_W-what do you want with me?" Wolves were rare creatures. Rarely ever seen. What would one be doing here? And anyways…even she wasn't gullible enough to trust some random person, or in this case, animal, that she just met._

"_Is that how you talk to someone who saved your life?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_You fell off a cliff, don't you remember? You're lucky that I happened to be walking by. You landed on me. That's some amazing timing, and now my back hurts". _

"_Oh…thanks…sorry"_

"_Your arm hurts, right?"_

"_Yeah" She felt that she could trust this creature. And telling it that her arm hurt wasn't gonna help to harm her or anything.  
_

"_You must have hit it at some point…I don't have anything to make a cast, sorry"_

_"I can just go to a doctor, right?"  
_

_"Yes…but right now it's snowing too heavily. You'd freeze to death before reaching a town"_

_"Oh..."  
_

Suddenly, the train jerked to a stop. Lucy lifted her head.

"We're here," Erza said, standing up.

-20 minutes later-

They had found the house that the request had said to go to, and were heading towards the edge of town.

The request was to find a group of thieves, and get back a stolen watch. It was pretty normal request, and would probably be easy. These random criminal groups typically weren't very strong.

"Are you the mages sent to attack us?" A threatening voice said, as they noticed some people standing by some trees.

* * *

**Cliche mission, cliche cliffhanger. ._.  
I'm in a hurry though, so lame ending, sorry xD**

**And sorry about the short chapters...I'll tryy to make the next one longer :c**


	5. Staring Contest

**I was extremely unmotivated and not looking forward to writing this chapter(not liking to write action scenes+lack of ideas+ideas for other stories=unmotivation for this chapter). -_-**

******oh, and I just realized that chapters around 1000 words really are short. Sorry... D; This one is longer though...around 1900 ;D**

******I only own the plot and Kera. Well, and the thieves...**

* * *

Team Natsu stared at the people, who were apparently the thieves they were looking for. They were your typical gangsters - extravagant punk fashion and over-confident, sadistic smirks.

"How nice of you to turn yourselves in!" Natsu yelled, his fist lighting on fire, getting ready to attack them.

"No, no, boy. That's not what we're doing. We're just saving you the trouble of finding us. We figured that the owner of this watch would send for help. We don't want you getting lost in these woods now, do we?" A main with spiky brown hair said, dangling a gold watch from his fingers.

Natsu charged at him. "We don't need your help, Spiky-head!"

"Wait! Natsu, you're going to break the watch!" Erza yelled after him.

He stopped, glaring at the man. "Ha, not so easy now, is it?", 'Spiky-head' smirked. "If one of my followers has this at all times, then you can never get all of us."

Erza, Charle and Lucy sweatdropped. This dude was pretty stupid, his confidence obviously getting the best of him.

Everyone had stopped to think up strategies, and was nervously standing around. Even if their opponent's strategy was bad, it didn't mean that they could quickly come up with one to counter it.  
The thieves were just grinning, enjoying the team's uncomfortable situation. They didn't seem to be in a hurry to end(or should I say start?) this fight.

Lucy decided it was time to use her magic. She had waiting for a time that it would make a big impact. That was just being selfish, of course, but she couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces as...well, you'll see.

She glanced at everyone. Nobody was making a move. Good, she wouldn't be interrupted.

-:-:-:-

Erza was silently panicking. She couldn't come up with a good strategy. The most reasonable way would be to attack everyone else. The guy with the watch would have to eventually drop it...or hand it to someone else...  
She jerked her head up as she heard a surprised yelp.  
She didn't notice anything wrong at first.  
But then...  
The watch. It was floating in midair.  
_'Oh...so they started fighting...must be a trap'  
_But wait. They looked quite shocked. Whatever, _'they must have taken acting lessons or something'  
_

Natsu made a move towards the watch, which had floated towards them. One of the gang, a girl with short black hair, also ran towards it. The watch floated upwards, making them crash into each other, ending up in a heap. This made the other thieves snap out of the realization that their plan didn't work, and also run towards it.  
It moved again, but this time, it was fast and headed towards...The wolf?

"Don't ge-!" Erza started, meaning to say that it was a trap and not to grab it. She was to late though, as Kera had already jumped up to grab it with her mouth.

She heard another yelp,well, it was more a scream of pain, and this time she saw someone holding one of their enemies in some kind of karate fighting lock pose thing. _'what the...'  
_Then she noticed who it was. Ookami? No, that couldn't be right...but it couldn't be anyone else...  
Erza forgot about the watch and wondering how the girl moved so fast, as she quickly jumped into action to help her, as the girl was now being attacked by the rest of the thieves.

Erza slashed her sword at the first person she got saw, who shot a beam of light at her, she dodged, thinking _'Ah, light magic...'_

As she battled, dodging and slashing her swords around, she glimpsed at her teammates, trying to see how they were doing. Natsu was battling the leader, who seemed to also be a fire mage. Wendy and Gray were teaming up one person. Ookami was fighting the other, her wolf helping. Charle was nowhere to be seen. Happy was cheering from the sky, apparently not wanting to get hit by stray attacks.  
Suddenly, she felt her consciousness fading her vision turning black, as something slammed into her side, and she hit the ground with a loud thud...  
She should never have looked away from her opponent.

-:-A few minutes later-:-

Gray was currently having a very tense one-on-one fight, at it's climax...ice creations and light flying everywhere...and then suddenly, a full-out beam of light headed towards him. As the scene turned into slow motion, he quickly tried to make an ice wall, to save himself...nobody knew if he'd succeed in time... or if he would..._die_

Haha, just kidding.

Seriously, I am.

He was actually just...guess what? He was having a contest to see who could keep from blinking the longest! I I know, awesome, right?

Haha, just kidding again.

...No, seriously, he was.

It's not like it couldn't be considered tense, though. I mean, have you ever _been _in a staring contest?

_'what the heck am I doing? no, what the heck is _she_ doing? She's just staring at me! It's freakin' scary! I need to attack now...I can't waste time...whoa, this is actually kind of fun. Girl, I'm totally gonna win! Staaarreeeeeee..."  
_

This contest went on for a few minutes. Nobody can keep themselves from blinking for that long though, so of course they had rematches._  
_

"Gray"

_'Starreee..."_

"GRAY"

_'Don't blink...Don't blink...'_

"GRAY YOU'RE AN IDIOT"_  
_

He snapped out his concentrated staring. "Huh?"

"Hmm, so you only react to being called an idiot?"

He turned around to face an angry girl.

"STOP STARING AND FIGHT, YOU IDIOT"

He winced. She sure had a loud voice. "Uh...y-yeah..." He turned back to his opponent. "Shouldn't you be fighting too?" He said, hoping that he'd be right, and she'd be forced to stop talking to him.

"Everyone else is knocked out._ Everyone. _Even your teammates. You were to busy having a staring contest or whatever to help them"

He sweatdropped. His plan to get her away had failed. "Okay okay, I'll fight"

"I'm helping you, remember"

"Huh? You never said that!"

"It's obvious. I have nothing else to do. Why would I _not_ help you?" There were plenty of reasons why she wouldn't help him, but he didn't need to know...right? And anyways, she couldn't just stand there looking like a sadist, watching him fight.

"Okay, let's get this over with" he said

"Hmm, you don't like staring contests? That's fine, I'd rather fight, anyways!" their opponent said, grinning and firing a beam of light at them.

"Ice Make: Shield!"

"Defense, huh? You're not gonna win a battle that way!"

"Ice Make: Arrows" he yelled, running towards her.

"HEY IDIOT, CAN I BORROW YOUR SHIRT?"

"Huh? Um, sure?" He glanced behind him to see Ookami holding his shirt, which he had apparently discarded at some point.

"Hey hey, don't forget our fight!" he heard the light mage yell right before he got hit in the head with a ball of light.

He was caught off balanced, and staggered.

"Ha, idiot, do you _need_ my help?"

He glared at her. "No, thanks, I'm fine. It was _your_ fault, you know..." He said, annoyed. Why was this girl set on making him look bad? Did she normally start insulting strangers just 5 hours after meeting them?

"Rain of li-!" He turned to see the girl's arms tied together with...was that..HIS SHIRT?  
"HEY, I NEVER SAID YOU COU-"

"You let me borrow your shirt, and I used it. Problem? You should've asked why I wanted it".

Gosh, this girl made him _mad_. "I was fighting! I couldn't stop to ask questions!"

"I can give it back. I'll just use the pink-haired idiot's shirt instead. Why do you even care? I mean, you never wear it anyways..."

She had a point there..."Please, just give it back!"

"Okay, then go get the other idiot's for me"

"What? Why? And why are both of us idiots?"

"You're closer to him. And I think that answer's obvious..."

He glanced around and noticed that Natsu _was_ closer to him. Ignoring the last part of the girl's reply, he walked over to Natsu.

Lucy focused on the enemy. The black-haired girl was struggling, her arms still tied tight. She didn't seem to have much physical strength, and no magic that would help her. Or, she was just stupid.

"Here" Gray said he handed her Natsu's shirt.

It quickly floated to the girl, and Lucy started mentally tying it around the girls arms.

Gray's jaw dropped open as he realized that some of the strange happenings earlier were Ookami's doing.

After she had finished, she untied Gray's shirt, and dropped it on his head. He grumbled sarcastically about her being nice.

"Hey, finish that girl off. She's gonna tear the shirt soon"

"Ice Make: Hammer!" He yelled, and the giant ice hammer hit the girl, knocking her out.

"Okay, now let's tie 'em up"

"Do you have a rope?"

"Nope"

"..."

"You know...I'm suddenly regretting giving your shirt back..."

"I'm not giving it to you again"

"But...you didn't even put it on..."

"Okay...but you're paying for a new one"

"Fine"

After tying together Natsu(they figured it was safe to untie the light mage), Gray, and the male thieves shirts, they managed to tie up all 4 of the criminals.

"Wait...where'd the watch go?"

"Kera gave it to Charle and asked her to run away with it when everyone was distracted. She should be waiting a bit away"

_'Why does it seem like she took charge even though she's not even part of the team? She's seriously another Erza...''  
_

They then woke up the others, picked up Charle, returned the watch, turned in the thieves, and headed to the train station.

As they boarded the train, Natsu noticed something...

"Hey...where's my shirt?"

* * *

**Well, hope you liked it :3  
Did I manage to add in some good comedy? :D  
I really like the second half, with the staring contest, lol. :3**

**And, if you're wondering, the reason why everyone but Gray, Lucy, and that other girl got knocked out is because the thieves defeated Team Natsu, and then Lucy defeated them, or they passed out because of exhaustion.  
**

**Oh, and I'm taking a writing class, _and_ trying to write two other stories(I won't post them until I finish this one)...so I may not update weekly. Idk, maybe I will. Depends if I have writers block or not...which I currently kinda do xD**

**And...It's really depressing that I very rarely get reviews during the week. I only get them for about 1-2 days after posting the chapter :c But during the week is when I need the motivation, cause that's when I write it...I mean, any reviews help, but...D;  
**


	6. Wolf Slayer

**I forgot to say _what _exactly her new magic is…sorry. D: You guys probably thought it's just telekinesis, right? Well, it's not :3 BTW, it's really hard to write scenes with telekinesis…-_-**

**I don't own Fairy Tail.**

******I don't like this chapter much, and it's not funny, but here it is anyway~  
**

* * *

"Erza, can we talk?"

The armored mage turned to see a white-haired woman. "Sure, Mira. But why?"

"Let's go outside first" she said, not wanting anyone to overhear.

After they had left the guild, Mira answered Erza's question. "Well...it's about the new member...Ookami Hajime..."

"Ah, yes. What's wrong with her?"

"Well...she didn't get a member stamp"

"What do you mean?" Erza asked, surprised.

"She went to master's office...then he announced her as a member. She never came to get stamped. From what I know, the only stamp is at the bar".

"Hmm...That definitely sounds fishy...Actually, I've been suspicious also".

"Master would never allow someone without the insignia to become a member. That means..."

"That she already has one?"

"Exactly. Or she hypnotized master into making her become a member or something..."

"I guess that's possible too...but let's focus on if she already has one"

"Okay. When you were on the mission, did you notice anything else suspicious?"

"Hmm...She seemed to not like trains much...I didn't get to see much of her magic, since I got knocked out quickly, but she seemed to only use telekinesis and physical hand-to-hand combat. She also appears to have a very good relationship with her wolf"

"Oh, yes, the wolf...Do you think it's safe? I mean, remember..." she stopped, not wanting to say the painful memory.

"Yes, I know... We should be on guard"

"Right. About the stamp, though, do you really think that she's a returning member?"

"It seems reasonable. She feels a bit familiar..."

"Really? Then let's try to find out if she has the guild mark".

"Let's go swimming, then!"

"Mira...stay on topic..."

"But she'll have to wear a swimsuit. We'll be able to see all the parts of her body she'd get a stamp on!"

"But what if she's purposely hiding it? She can just refuse to come"

"It's worth a try "

-:-:-:-

Lucy was sitting at the bar, sipping on a vanilla smoothie. Even though it was very late, and probably dark outside, Kera had decided to go try to catch something wild in the forests at the edge of Magnolia. Lucy would normally go with her, but she was tired from the mission earlier, and had decided to just wait. They needed to decide where they were staying before she could go to sleep.

"GIMME SOMETHING SPICY, MIRA~" Natsu yelled eagerly, sitting down next to her.

Lucy stood up, meaning to go sit with someone else…anyone she didn't hate.

"Okay, Natsu" Mira replied, smiling, heading into the kitchen.

The secret fire dragon slayer then realized that something spicy sounded _really_ good. Most people were out on missions, or had gone home already, so if she stayed, she may be able to distract Natsu for long enough to steal some of his food, since Mira would get suspicious if she ordered something that only Natsu did. Of course, she could just go to the store and buy something, but where's the fun in that?

She reluctantly sat back down, but this time, one stool separated her and Natsu.

"So, Kami, what exactly is your magic?"

She winced at the friendly sounding nickname, and ignored him, pretending not to hear.

He moved over, so that they were next to each other again.

"So, Ka-" He started, repeating what he had just said.

Oh, well…may as well answer one question.

"I'm a wolf slayer of movement" She said emotionlessly, not even bothering to look at him.

"Ooh! You're a slayer too!" Natsu yelled, excited. The few people nearby turned to look at him.

"Yeah…I can move really fast, kind of like Jet's magic, plus I'm good at close combat fighting. Also, I can use telekinesis", she reluctantly explained, her voice lightly laced with hate.

"Cool!" He exclaimed, ignoring that fact that she obviously didn't want to talk.

Levy walked up to them, she had overhead them (like the rest of the people in the guild…due to a certain pink-haired dragon slayer…), and was curious. "That's lost magic, right?"

Yay, someone she liked. "Yeah, wolves stopped teaching it after they were banished"

"Oh, yeah, there was that war a long time ago…the wolves were getting so strong that the humans feared they would attack them, so they decided to attack first. The wolves ended up being exiled. The magic council has kind of forgotten about that now though, right?"

"Somewhat. They allow Wolf Slayer magic, although not if the person seems to be a threat. Wolves though…they still aren't exactly fans of them."

"Can wolf slayers eat their element?" Natsu asked. Figures he'd ask about something related to food.

"Yeah. I don't have an element though. It's kinda like how with Pokemon, you, Gajeel and Wendy would be a fire type, steel type, and flying type…I'd be a normal type"

"What the heck is that?"

"I know!~ It's another dimension, right?"

"Yeah. I heard about it at some point". She should've guessed her idiotic twin would know nothing about anything like this. "I'm not left out though. Even though I don't have an element I can eat, when people around me move really fast, I like…absorb it, or something."

"Interesting…" Levy said thoughtfully, "Oh, I forgot, I have something to do, bye!" she said, running away as a certain other dragon slayer entered the guild, apparently looking for her.

"Is that why you smell like a dragon slayer?"

Lucy stared at him, shocked. "U-uh, yeah…Dragon and wolf slayers probably smell similar", she stuttered nervously, highly doubting that what she just said was true.

"Oh…okay" He sounded slightly disappointed.

She sighed, glad that he was stupid enough to believe it.

Little did she know that he wasn't completely convinced. Even if he was an idiot, he still had a dragon slayer's sense of smell.

"Here's your food, Natsu" Mira said, placing a very delicious looking(in Lucy and Natsu's opinion) plate of jalapeno covered nachos in front of Natsu.

Lucy stared at them, wishing she could have some. More people had come into the guild since the time he had ordered them, and she realized that even if she distracted Natsu while Mira was in the kitchen, she'd definitely be seen.

Natsu, who was eating as if he hadn't had any food for the past week, paused, a chip half way to his mouth, and seemed to be thinking. He then turned to look at her, a serious expression on his face. "Kami...are you…"

* * *

**Yay, cliffhanger ;D  
Lol, I know what's going to happen and you don't~  
/random sadistic moment**


	7. Swimming

** I almost forgot about this chapter, and started writing the next one, lol**

** And…I SUCK AT ACTION SCENES. Sorry ;~;**

**The dialogue continues directly from the last chapter, so I'll do a recap for anyone who forgot what happened. ^-^**

**-  
Natsu, who was eating as if he hadn't had any food for the past week, paused, a chip half way to his mouth, and seemed to be thinking. He then turned to look at her, a serious expression on his face. "Kami...are you…"**  
-

**I don't own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

Lucy stared at him in shock, too panicked to say anything. _'did I actually not convince him? Did he figure it out already?'_

"…hungry?" Natsu innocently continued his question, clueless to the fact that the girl he was talking to was about to go into Erza mode...

Nobody knew why Natsu had a concussion for the next few days, not even him.

-:-:-Next day-:-:-

Lucy was standing in a large battle arena. Natsu was across from her, looking very beat up and dirty, but a determined grin was on his face and his hands surrounded by fire.

The whole guild was in the audience, cheering for either her or Natsu.

"Roar of the Fire Dragon!" She yelled. Natsu did the same.

The attacks clashed midair, creating a large explosion.

He ran at her, ready to knock her to the ground with a physical attack. She braced herself, planning to hit him before he could get her.

"Lucy, breakfast's ready"

"That's right. I'll beat Natsu to a pulp. And put him in orange juice!"

She hit him as planned. There was no way he could beat her when it came to movement.

"And drink it?"

"What else would I do with orange juice?"

"Lucy, are you a cannibal?"

"I'm a wolf!" She said loudly, sitting up. Then she blinked. This wasn't a battle arena…

"You're a human. Now eat your breakfast, which does not include Natsu"

This was the middle of a forest, where she and Kera were camping. It had all been a dream…and she'd been sleeptalking.

"Yes, yes" She noticed a couple dead rabbits sitting a few feet away. As a wolf and dragon slayer, sometimes she felt like she was more animal than human. And Kera didn't help this, as she never bothered cooking, using a table, or even just using plates.

Then she noticed something was missing. "Where's the hot sauce?" A necessity. And since she couldn't have anything extremely spicy at the guild, this was her only chance.

"You used it all, remember?"

"…."

"You can deal with it. We'll buy some later"

"But…."

Kera stared her, an unamused look on her face.

"Right. We'll get some later."

She crawled over to her breakfast, and started eating. Bones and all. After all, she didn't just _feel_ half animal, she more or less _was_ half animal.

"So, do you think you can beat him?" Kera asked, taking her share of the food.

"Huh? Oh…" Crunch…crunch… "I think so" Munch….munch… "I need to confirm for sure though." Nomnomnom…."I mean" Munch…"I have an advantage, knowing two kinds of magic, and if he isn't to much stronger than me, he'll" crunch… "barely be able to harm me."

"And if he's stronger?"

She clenched her fist, thinking of what would happen if she failed her goal. "I'll…."

"Fail"

"…."

Kera realized Lucy had stopped eating, and was just staring at her food. "…I mean, I'm sure you can beat him, you just should confirm it beforehand…."

"Yeah…."

"Are you done? Let's go to the guild"

"Don't forget the hot sauce"

"_After_ we go to the guild"

"….."

-:-:-:-:-

As the guild doors creaked open, Mira looked up from filling a glass. "Ah, Ookami, you're here!" She yelled, waving.

Lucy heard her name, well, her alias, and quickly headed to the bar.

"Do you like swimming? Us girls are going la-"

"No"

Mira awkwardly paused. She hadn't expected such a straight out refusal. "Come on…It'll be fun!" She said encouragingly, and smiled.

"I don't like water"

"You don't need to swim. Just try to get a tan, or something!"_ 'at least that'll still make her wear a swimsuit..."_

"Okay...I guess that's fine"

"Great! Just sit down and wait. We'll go in an hour or so. I can lend you a swimsuit"

"Okay"

She and Kera headed for an unoccupied table.

"I like swimming"

"Yeah, I know"

"To bad they probably don't want an animal swimming in their pool. I mean, most people don't like to swim with a bunch of fur..."

Lucy laughed. "We can go find a lake sometime. Nobody will care if you swim there"

-:-:-Later-:-:-

Lucy stared at her reflection in the mirror, closely observing herself.

She was wearing a black bikini with white polka dots, borrowed from Fairy Tail's resident model. Her brown, dyed hair was pulled back into a ponytail.  
The eyepatch covering her eye was mostly just because that eye was still brown, and possibly recognizable to her former friends, unlike her other eye, which had turned red, thanks to an injury from during a training mishap. Her still-normal eye also got injured a bit, more recently, but an eyepatch probably wasn't necessary anymore.

She bent down to reach the clothes she had discarded, and unclipped a little pouch from her belt, and opened it. Inside was a couple celestial keys(Plue's, and a few others she had saved from abusive celestial mages. She wasn't majorly into celestial spirits, but having some extra help never hurt) and a small bottle. She pulled out this last item.

It was a concealing potion, that worked for about 5 hours. She kept it if she ever needed to take her gloves off, and right now was one of those situations. It wasn't everyday that somebody wore gloves to a pool, and she didn't want to look suspicious.

She pulled off her gloves, and put a bit of the potion on her hand, making the guild mark disappear.

_'Perfect' _she thought to herself.

"Let's go!"

* * *

**Bad ending, and I would make this longer, but I really need to get off the computer(actually, I _have_ to)...so yeah...sorry**

**It seems reasonable that fire mages would hate water, right? I mean seriously, fire is no match for water unless it's hot enough to evaporate it, or something...Which means there'd be no point in swimming xD**  
**Natsu has been shown swimming though, so idk.**

**Oh, and some of you may be wondering when the GraLu will really start. It'll be soon, I promise. :3  
**


	8. Crunch

**I don't have any A/N for before the story this time...**

**But** **I just want to tell everyone that I'll be changing my username to xDawntiger.**

**I ony own Kera.**

* * *

It was a nice day, and Lucy was glad she had decided to come to the pool. She lay on a chair, just soaking up the sun and watching a few clouds float along in the sky.

Most of the other girls were playing some kind of ball game in the pool, and a few were tanning, like her. Or doing other random things(that the author is to lazy to list).  
Since animals weren't allowed, Kera had gone off to do something by herself.

There was just one problem though - she swore she was being stared at.

And you know what's frustrating? When you feel like somebody's stalking you, but you have no idea who.

She almost started to wish she was Gray, who, even though he was constantly stalked, knew _who_ was staring at him.

Frustrated, she stood up, deciding to go find a snack or something.

She walked around the pool, to a little stand with some food.

"Hello, Miss, are you looking for a cold drink? Or maybe a popsicle?" an old man standing behind the stand asked.

_'Why does _everyone_ assume that you want something cold at the pool?'_

...Well, maybe most people did. But she couldn't exactly be categorized with "most people".

"I'd like something..._not cold_" she told the man, making sure to emphasize the last part.

After giving her a strange look, "Then maybe some chips would suit your taste?"

After handing the man some jewels, she took the bag of chips, and headed to the area with tables.

Sitting down, she pulled the bag open. The multi-slayer(A/N: Idk what to call her xD) could hear everything going on, although since her combined wolf and dragon hearing caught way more than the ears of someone who was just one of them would, it a bit hard to focus on one thing sometimes, and she normally tried to block out distant sounds.

crunch...crunch...crunch...

[insert whatever the sound of walking is]...drip...drip...[walking again]...

"Ookami-san, can we sit with you?"

"..." crunch...

Sometimes, it was fun to act like she couldn't hear people. If only they knew she could of heard them just as easily if they were at the other edge of the pool area...

Erza and Mirajane stood behind the girl, awkwardly.

"Yeah"

They sat down, one on each side of her.

"So...Erza told me that you are a traveling mage?" The take-over mage gave her a friendly smile.

"Yeah"

"For how long?"

"Maybe around 5-ish years..." A bit of lie, but not to much.

Crunch...

"Where did you live before that?"

"Somewhere somewhat nearby" Well, she had lived there _before_ living in Magnolia...back in the days with Igneel.

"Thanks for the detailed description" Erza joined in, a deadpan expression on her face. "And you told me that you were from a town I wouldn't know? I think I know most of the towns around here..."

"You asked where I was _from_" Crunch..._ "_I didn't live there long though"

"Oh..."

Another awkward silence...minus the crunching of Lucy eating her chips.

"How old are you? I'm 17~"

"...14" Couldn't hurt, there were lots of 14 year olds, right?

Mira smiled to herself. She had gotten the answer she wanted. "Your birthday? Mine's May 11th"

This was a problem. Lying for this could cause some minor problems. There was one solution though...  
"I feel like you're making me tell you my whole life story..."

"Aw, come on, we've barely talked" Mira said, smiling innocently.

"How about I ask some questions?"

"Sure" Anything to get her more comfortable...and willing to give personal info.

"Where's Natsu? I didn't see him at the guild today"

"He got a concussion somehow, and stayed home"_ "hmmm, wondering about Natsu?"_ Mira thought, her suspicions rising...

She and Erza had made a list of past guild members within the last 7-ish years(Yes, they were somehow stupid and didn't spend long considering other ideas), and had a quite long list. So they had shortened it by taking off the dead members...Only the confirmed ones though. And of course, there was one certain unconfirmed death that caught their attention...

"Oh..."

"Don't worry though, my sister, Lisanna is staying with him"

Lucy stiffened at this.

Natsu had always teased and bullied her.

But yet, he was good friends with Lisanna, and it had always made her mad.

After all, _she_ was his sister. If he should be good friends with a girl, it should be _her_, even if she had been weak.

Erza noticed Lucy's expression, and decided to try a hopefully tough question.

"I was wondering...where did you get your guild stamp put?"

Lucy paused, then put another chip in her mouth.

"It's not like I'm not forced to tell you"

Obviously an excuse...but what else could she say?

"Yeah...but I can use force..." Erza said, threateningly.

Lucy didn't flinch. She was sure she could take Erza on. But, hopefully, that wouldn't be needed.

Then...she realized something.

"Hey...what time is it?"

"Around 3. Why do you ask?" Erza answered, after glancing at a clock that Lucy had failed to notice.

"..."

"Why'd you turn your hand upside down?"

Lucy stiffened again. She had unconsciously turned her hand against the table, so the back couldn't be seen.

She had lost track of time while she was tanning.

The potion...it would wear off soon.

* * *

**So...it doesn't reach my goal of 1000 words, but I decided another cliffhanger would be good.**


	9. Cornered

**I'm not proud of this chapter at all….**

**It feels really unrealistic. ;~; **

**GraLu starts in the next chapter though, I promise. ^-^**

**I don't own FT~  
**

* * *

"U-umm…I need to go to the bathroom!" Lucy blurted out, quite loudly. She quickly stood up and turned to run away, but felt someone grab her arm.

Turning to see Erza holding her arm, she tried to pull away.

If she could just get to her stuff, and put on the potion again, she'd be able to come back perfectly calm…

But why did Erza have to have such an iron grip?

"I said I need to go the bathroom!" She said, still trying to loosen her grip.

"Oh really? That sure was sudden!"

"Y-yeah… don't you ever suddenly have to go?"

Erza glared at her. "Yeah, I do…When I need to escape from someone…."

"O-oh…" Lucy looked away, feeling extremely cornered.

"So, mind telling me why you're escaping?"

"I-I…" She stuttered, trying to come up with an idea.

Erza was still glaring at the girl. Her suspicions were rising by 5%...No, more like 10%...or more…

"Y'know…maybe I left the oven on…"

"You left your house over 6 hours ago"

"But if I did leave it on, my house would be on fire by now…!" Erza didn't need to know that she didn't even _have _an oven, _or_ a house.

"I'm sure your oven and house are perfectly fine"

"Kera might be bored!"

"I thought you needed to go to the bathroom"

"Maybe there is-"

"JUST SHUT UP AND TELL US WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW"

"B-But I need to go grocery shopping, then I need to bake cookies! And my new couch is arriving! Also, my wolf ate my homework!" Lucy rambled on, trying to think of every possible yet believable excuse. Well, maybe not believable.

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THIS"

"I mean- OWW" Erza was gripping her even harder, if that was even possible.

Mira had been silently sitting through all this, but now a dark aura was starting to surround her. "Is that something on your hand?" She asked, with as innocent a voice as possible.

Lucy's eyes widened, and she almost lost her balance.

Erza was also shocked, since she didn't expect Mira to say that, and accidentally loosened her grip for a few seconds.

Lucy took this chance, and after finally getting her arm free, she dashed off as quickly as possible. And of course, for her "as quickly as possible" was very quick, since she was a wolf slayer of _movement_.

"HEY COME BACK HERE!" Erza yelled, running after her, ignoring the fact that they were attracting quite a bit of attention.

She re-quipped into speed armor, and managed to catch up with the girl. But as she tried to grab her arm again, the red-head slipped on a puddle of water.

Lucy let out a yelp of surprise as the ex-quip mage accidentally pushed her, and fell into the pool with a loud splash.

She quickly resurfaced...holding onto an inner tube. Sounds to perfect, but it was true. She silently thanked whoever left it right at that perfect spot near the edge of the pool.

But without being used to being surrounded by water, and not knowing how to swim, she had trouble getting out. Why were the stairs all the way on the other side?

Erza realized her problem, and grabbed her hand to pull her out.

"Whoa, there really is something on your hand" she said without thinking, after noticing something between her fingers, on Lucy's hand.

At this, the brunette-turned-blonde pulled her hand away, grabbed Erza's, and ran off again, with Mira following.

The wolf slayer had given up all hope of making them believe any excuses. Although...she still didn't want to tell them, and really had no idea why she had made the stupid decision to drag Erza along with her.

The water made her feel weaker though, and she had to stop sooner than normal. At least she got to an empty area.

Panting, Mira asked "wait, was I right?"

"what do you mean?" Erza asked, a bit confused

The white-haired girl turned to Lucy. "I was just seeing how you'd react..."

Lucy wasn't sure if Mirajane was telling the truth, or if she was just trying to catch her off-guard again, but either way, they knew she had something on her hand. And they probably knew what it was. She admitted that you'd really have to be an idiot(like Natsu) to not notice that something was really suspicious about her now.

"Now, _show me your hand,_" Erza ordered, going into her Erza-is-probably-going-to-kill-you mode...a.k.a, she was surrounded by a dark aura and seriously looked like she was gonna kill you if you don't obey her _right now_.

"B-but..." Lucy said, holding one hand over the other, behind her back.

x-::-Now, focused more on Mira's POV-::-x

The take-over mage had simply been watching as Erza and Ookami were arguing(Or, more like Erza was cornering and scaring the poor girl). Could this girl really be their old friend? There had never been any confirmation of her death, although it seemed pretty obvious what had happened from the wolf scent and blood...But still, even though this girl had only been at Fairy Tail for 2 days, she seemed awfully suspicious.

If this girl really was Lucy, what would they do? They had long ago accepted the fact that she was dead. Suddenly finding she was alive would be-well, more like _is_- extremely shocking. Even though this plan had been her idea, did she really want to find out?

She was hoping and almost expecting that Ookami was Lucy….What if she wasn't? It would be extremely depressing…

"Mira!"

She broke out of her thoughts to see the girl running past her, escaping again, with one hand still over the over.

In that split second, she instinctively reached out to grab her arm.

Before Lucy could react, Mirajane had pulled her hands away from each other, let out a gasp of surprise….and fainted.

x-::-Since Mira is unconscious, we can't use her POV anymore, can we?-::-x

Lucy just stood there, stunned. Now, there was no way she could convince them she wasn't Lucy…..

She slowly turned to look at Erza, who was still glaring at her. She gave a weak smile, but in vain, as the ex-quip mage just continued glaring at her.

"You have some explaining to do…."

Now she felt like a disobedient kid who was about to get lectured by their mom….

"Um, yeah…."

"I'm not repeating this again. _Give me your hand_"

"Uh…but it's mine, I can't give it to you…" Way to go, a lame joke. That would definitely get her out of this situation….not.

"You know what I mean"

"Heh…yeah…"

Still being glared at….

She probably could have knocked out both Mira and Erza, but…she didn't want to hurt them, and it still wouldn't have gotten her out of this situation…But then again, _nothing_ would.

That's right…as she had already realized earlier, nothing would make them believe any lies. She had tried to escape…but it was useless. Futile. In vain. Pointless.

"_This is for the best...," _Lucy tried to convince herself that she wasn't making a mistake.

She sniffed the air, to make sure nobody else was nearby, and slowly held out her right hand, lighting it on fire.

Erza's eyes widened, "Th-that's…"

x-::-x

"And, so, I decided it was time to come back…"

They were at Erza's house now, and Lucy had just finished giving them a shortened version of the past 7 years.

"Well, it's good to have you back..." Mira said, still shocked. She had thought it may have been a dream…but then when she woke up, she realized it wasn't, and almost fainted again.

"Yeah, it's good to be back…" Lucy said, still not sure that this was okay.

"So, um, you're not going to tell anyone else?"

"Yeah. So you better not either"

"Right, we're glad you told us though," Erza said, smiling.

It was Lucy's turn glare. _"I didn't have much choice…" _

x-::-The next day…..-::-x

"Ah...choo!"

* * *

**Lol, was the ending weird? :P and I feel like this chapter was really drawn out…and it was so boring how they found out. -_-**

**The next chapter is hopefully a big twist...and, as I said before, where the GraLu kind of really starts :D  
And no, it's not the "omg the love of my life is sick, I'm going to stay by her side all night3" thing. xD**


	10. The Floor is Comfy?

**SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE DDD:  
I just kept procrastinating and yeah...heheh :3**

**But, the GraLu starts! :DD  
**

**Oh, and today, it's been 2 months since I posted the prologue, and this is the 10th chapter. I'm shocked that I didn't give up on it. Thanks so much, everyone who has reviewed, favorited, added LAVFR to their alerts, and anyone who is even just a silent reader. :DD**

**Standard disclaimers applied~**

* * *

"Lucyyy."

"Give me….5 more- Ahh…choo!" The wolf slayer mumbled, then broke off with a sneeze. It jerked her awake, and she sat up, slowly opening her eyes, revealing Kera right in front of her, a worried look on her furry face..

"You were breathing heavily, and seemed uncomfortable…."

"Mhmmm…My head hurts…"

"Remind me again what people do to treat a cold?"

"Ahh… we can just go to the guild..."

"Okay." Since Kera was a wolf, she obviously had no idea how to treat a sick human. Being a dragon slayer, Lucy didn't get sick as often as a normal person, but falling in the pool and being completely submerged in the element that made her weak, had also made her sick.

The brunette groggily stood up, and got ready to head to the guild, occasionally sneezing.

* * *

"Mi-chan~!" As they entered the guild, Levy greeted them, using a nickname she had come up with when she was introduced to Ookami. Cause Oo-chan is kind of weird, y'know? And Ka-chan would make it sound like she was calling Ookami her mom… "How are you?" she asked, smiling.

For her answer, she received a sneeze.

"You're sick?"

"Yeah," Kera answered for Lucy, "We came to the guild to get some medicine."

"Aw, hope you get better soon!"

Mirajane appeared, having overheard. "I'll go get some. If you'd like to rest, you may use the infirmary."

"Thanks…" Lucy said, sitting down on the seat at the end of the bar and laying her head on the counter.

"Flame-brain!"

"Popsicle freak!"

"Campfire!"

Her brother and Gray were fighting, as they always used to. It was nice to see that some things hadn't changed, even if she did hate them both. But today, her headache was so bad that she barely noticed them.

Well, that is, until Natsu happened to attack with such force that Gray was thrown backwards.

And little did he know that his aim was perfect….to throw the ice mage into his sick sister.

"Oof!" Gray exclaimed, "What did you do that for?!"

"You deserve it, Ice Freak!" Natsu said, laughing.

"Can't….breathe…."

Gray jumped up, realizing he was not sitting on the smooth floor of the guild.

Seeing Ookami, he immediately apologized, and reached out his hand to help her up.

"Kyaa!" Mirajane squealed, her eyes sparkling as she returned from getting some cold medicine.

Everyone turned to stare at her, confused looks on their faces.

"They're so adorable together!" The barmaid exclaimed, still squealing. "How did I not notice before?!"

Gray blushed lightly. "Mira, don't-

The take-over mage interrupted him, not caring at all about what he was going to say. "Since Ookami is sick, that means she shouldn't be alone, right?! I mean, Kera can't know how to take care of her good. And having her stay in the infirmary would mean she'd still hear everything in the guild hall! So-" At least she was right about this…Kera didn't know much about colds, and the infirmary was far at the back of the guild, so that anyone there could rest peacefully, but with Lucy's strong hearing, she'd still hear all the brawls and stuff. Everyone else luckily just figured that Mira was exaggerating to make her plan sound better.

"I think I know what you're getting at…and the answer is _no._" Gray said, with a slightly annoyed look at his face.

"-she could stay at Gray's house!" Mira continued happily, ignoring poor Gray again.

A few people gasped at her idea. "But that would be-" someone protested, only to have Mira cut them off again.

"It would be a _wonderful idea._" She said, doing her usual demon take-over, and glared around at everyone

"_Oh no, she's in complete matchmaker mode…"_ Gray thought._ "She's so gonna kill me if I don't agree…"_

Gray was right. Mira was in complete fan-girl matchmaker mode, and _nothing_ would stop her. Or, more like nobody would dare to _try_ to stop her. Other than maybe Erza, or Laxus, or Master. But, Erza happened to be somewhere else, and Master was…seeming to support the idea. And Laxus? Well, he was standing nearby, with a bored expression, as always. There was no way he'd help poor Gray either.

Being a matchmaker also sometimes made you seem like you were possessed, or something. Like, she seemed to completely forget about how Lucy felt about Gray, and that she'd probably end up killing him if she randomly woke up at his house. But what do you expect? She could be a professional matchmaker and fangirl. She should even get an award for it. She'd remember this later, and regret it(probably at Gray's funeral).

The ice mage looked back at Ookami, since he'd subconsciously taken his hand back when Mira started talking.

She was still lying on the floor, since everyone had turned their attention to Fairy Tail's resident matchmaker, and apparently the floor was so comfy that she didn't want to get up.

'_Wait, the _floor_? _Comfy_?' _Gray thought to himself, suddenly noticing that it was weird. He'd been on the floor more times than he could ever count, and it definitely wasn't what he would describe as comfy.

Kera seemed to notice is this too, as she immediately started shaking the girl with one paw.

"Mhmmgghh….." Lucy mumbled, rolling over.

Everyone was now watching them with full interest. It wasn't everyday someone fell asleep on the floor with a wolf shaking them, and a half-naked guy standing nearby awkwardly.

Gray sweatdropped as he noticed a few people taking pictures with their cellphones.

Levy hopped off her chair, and bent down to try her hand at waking up Lucy. But she stopped as she suddenly felt an evil aura behind her. Turning, she saw Mirajane, who still looked as innocent as possible. Unnerved, she turned back to Ookami, to attempt trying to wake her up again, only to feel that same aura. Standing up, she just stood there awkwardly-what is it with it people standing around awkwardly?-, trying to figure out if she should wake her up, or make sure her life was safe.

Kera decided to try a new tactic; she licked Lucy's face. A few people shuddered at the thought of having a wet, canine tongue on their face. Kera knew that Lucy wouldn't care, but was hoping that it would at least wake her up. And she seemed to be in luck, as Lucy mumbled something again.

"Natsu..."

Nope, she was still sleeping.

The wolf could think of a few other ways to wake her up(Such as touching her face with an icecube), but she agreed with Levy that it was better to keep your life.

Gray noticed a certain demon staring at him, smiling, and he could understand what she was trying to tell him…something like, "I bet Kera feels awkward being the only one helping her…hint hint."

Sighing, he knelt down, trying to ignore the large crowd watching him, and tried to pick her up. _'I'll be able to get out of this later...just wake her up now...then maybe she can convince Mira that she's fine alone…I mean, with that wolf...'_ he told himself. '_No, why isn't Kate or whatever her name was protesting!' _He looked at Kera, who was just watching him. Damn wolf. No help at all.

"Gray! That's not how you pick up a girl!" Mira exclaimed, switching out of her take-over mode.

"Then how?" He asked, just wanting to get this over with.

"Princess style!" The white-haired woman exclaimed, her eyes becoming sparkly again.

He blushed. "But I'm not going to carry-"

"But I thought you were taking her to your house, Gray?" Cana joined in, smirking.

"I never agreed to that though!"

"Oh really? I'm sure Mira would love to do a take-over again..."

Mira nodded at this, _still_ smiling.

Oh great, now he had 2 sadists torturing him. _'Come on, wake up!' _Gray urged silently in his mind.

"Look, I'm not going to-"

"I just came up with a wonderful idea, Gray!" Mira said, a little lightbulb appearing over her head.

_'This can't be good...' _"What is it?" he asked, scared of the answer.

"Natsu would look great on the cover of Sorcerer magazine, right?! And like, we could have a huge appreciation party for spicy-"

"That sounds awesome!_ Right, Gray_?" Cana added, enjoying torturing the ice mage.

"REALLY, MIRA!? AWESOME!" Natsu yelled, almost setting a table(and a few people) on fire.

"Hmph. Fine, I'll do it, but just for one day. If you promise me that flame freak over there won't be on the cover, and that guild isn't gonna become obsessed with spicy stuff."

"Really, Gray? Thank you! I'm sure she'll appreciate it!" Mira said, as if she hadn't just forced him. "We'll have to see about the days though...one is awful short..."

"I need to go on missions though! I can't stay home all day! And anyways-"

"I'll buy lots of icecream, and ban anything hot for as many days as she stays at your house"

"..."

"WHAT! MIRA, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!" You-know-who yelled, not understanding the situation at all.

"Including Natsu."

"WHAT DID I DO TO MAKE YOU HATE ME?"

"...You have a deal."

"WHY IS EVERYONE TURNING AGAINST ME?"

"Great! Now, you may go ahead and take her home~ Princess style, of course~"

"But-"

"Ice cream and no "flame brain"."

"...Yes, Mira." He reluctantly accepted.

As he awkwardly picked her up-princess style, of course-, even more people took pictures. Some even took videos. It looked kind of like a concert, where everyone in the audience is holding their cellphones up.

Mira handed him a bottle. "Here's her medicine~"

He grabbed the bottle, and quickly walked towards the doors(or, in his mind, "the gate out of this sadistic matchmaking hell"), everyone parted, making a perfect path. It kind of felt like he was a celebrity...but he couldn't enjoy it in _this_ situation.

"Better you than me, buddy" Natsu said, grinning, as Gray passed him.

Typical Natsu - He forgot that this was _bad_ for him.

Gray ignored him. He just needed to get out of here. _Quick_.

"Remember Gray, don't-" Mira called, stalling his escape from this sadistic place.

"Right. Right." He called back, already knowing what she was gonna say.

"I'll come check up on you later, okay?~"

"…" Gray ignored her as he reached the doors. A random person nearby opened one for him, and he quickly exited.

Ahhh, safety. He never knew he'd ever be this glad to leave the guild. Quickly, he looked around to make sure nobody was following them, and hurried towards his home.

Kera was worried. Lucy wouldn't be happy at all if she knew Kera hadn't protested about staying at Gray's house. But this was for her health….right? And it wasn't like she didn't respect Lucy's hatred for Gray – in fact, she supported it-, but she really wouldn't be able to treat a human sickness well and Mira was right about the guild being to loud. Surely it would be okay to make a truce(well, one-sided. Since obviously Gray wasn't going to try to kill Lucy or anything) for this reason?

She glanced at Gray. He was a few feet in front of her, carrying Lucy, and trying to walk as fast as possible. He seemed nice enough….right? At least just for one day, since Lucy rarely got sick longer than that?

* * *

**The reason Lucy's dialogue has so many periods is an attempt to try to make her sound more tired and person-with-a-cold-ish…..not sure if it worked though, lol**

**And, I think Natsu is OOC when Gray is leaving? Sorry xDD  
**

**And, I just wanna say that I _know_ there are a lot of mistakes. As a reader, you may not notice it as much, since you don't know what I was planning to write, but also there's a lot I've forgotten to add in. But it's my first story ever that has gotten anywhere near this long though. Before starting it, I had barely written any stories in the past 2 years. So yeah, if you happen to notice a mistake, just accept it, okay? I feel that my writing skills have gotten better with even just these 10 chapters, and of course I'm going to continue trying to make LAVFR even better. :) **

**Next chapter will be posted anywhere between the next 3 days to 2 weeks. ^-^ xD  
**


	11. Kitties

**I could've easily finished this a week ago….BUT WHY WRITE WHEN YOU CAN PROCRASTINATE? :D**

**Weird chapter name? I know~  
I just use whatever I think of first that is related to the chapter and sounds good, haha.  
**

**This chapter isn't very long, again(1,307 words without A/N)…and it's kind of just a filler… :/ I'm not really proud of it, but it was fun to write :3**

**And, Zeref appears… ;D Totally not what you think though, lolol.  
**

**I don't own Facebook, Google, or Fairy Tail. If I did….I'd be _extremely_ rich o_o**

* * *

Gray flicked on the light, and gently laid Lucy down on his couch. Kera silently followed, observing her surroundings. It was a small apartment, with a little hallway in front of the door, and at the end to the left was a door to the kitchen, and a few feet past it was the door to the bathroom, and then past that, his bedroom. To the right were some shelves and a TV next to the wall, and the couch across from it. Behind the couch was a desk and dining table. There were quite a few different articles of clothing discarded in various parts of the room, but overall, it was cleaner than she had expected.

Oh, and one other thing, it was _FREEZING_. Kera shivered, even with her thick coat of fur. Gray must've turned the air conditioning up as high as possible. But I guess that's what you should expect from an ice mage.

Her eyes followed Gray has he went to the kitchen to set down the bottle of medicine. He was scowling, and probably mentally cursing Mira. Opening the freezer, the ice-make mage grabbed a popsicle and came back out, stopping at the couch. He stared at Lucy, and then turned to the wolf. "Do you want to go to wherever you're staying and get her stuff?" He asked gruffly.

Kera just stared at him, then Lucy.

He blushed lightly, realizing that he had more or less just asked for her to leave him and this girl alone. "H-hey, I'm not going to-"

The wolf smirked. "Right. If she wakes up, give her the medicine. I'm sure you know how to read the instructions, right? Or are you to stu-"

"I can read, you idiot!"

"But can you understand them?"

"WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? A COMPLETE IDIOT?"

"Yep. Well, I'll be leaving now." She said, waving her tail as she turned and headed toward the door. Standing on two legs, she pressed one paw against the door, and turned the knob with the other, and then promptly exited, kicking the door shut with her hind leg.

As soon as it was closed, she twitched her ears, making sure nobody was coming. When was sure she was alone, she closed her eyes, concentrating, and then she was enveloped in a bright light. It quickly grew taller, then faded, revealing a teenage girl with long, thick, white hair, and brown eyes. Her clothes were somewhat similar to Lucy's – A red tank top, jean shorts and brown flip-flops.

This was Kera's transformation magic. She had only started learning it a few months ago, and couldn't hold it for long, which was why she rarely used it. It was quite handy though, since she didn't get stared at as much, and could go shopping alone(not many people are comfortable selling stuff to a wolf, y'know?).

The girl ran down the steps, and out of the apartment building.

Gray's apartment was, sadly, on the opposite side of town from where they had set up camp. While Lucy was at the pool though, she had explored Magnolia, and now had a good idea of how to get around. She raced down street after street, turning corners whenever she thought was necessary.

* * *

Gray was seething with anger. That damn wolf just...just totally owned him! This was gonna be a long day….well, hopefully just a day. If it wasn't, then….Mira would have to deal with her stupid matchmaking plans being ruined.

Wait, no….

If she only stayed a day, that meant only one day of icecream and no Natsu…..

Maybe he could handle this for a few more days. It had only been a few minutes so far, anyways.

But then again, he was this annoyed in a just a few minutes.

He sighed, and angrily bit a large chunk out of his popsicle, as he looked at Ookami again. She seemed to be sleeping as peacefully as a sick person could.

Deciding that she didn't need anything now, he sat down at the desk, and turned on his laptop.

Clicking the little icon to open the browser, he impatiently waited for the page to load.

Finally, it loaded, and he quickly went to Facebook. Checking the list of his online friends, he made sure nobody from Fairy Tail was on. Good, they weren't.

Deciding to also check another website, the ice mage opened a new tab. But before he could even log in, a little noise sounded, and "new message from…" flashed on the tab. Gray clicked it, and saw that his friend had sent a chat message.

Zeref: Guess what happened today =^_^=

His friend, Zeref, was someone he had met a few years ago while on a mission alone. The guy was a bit….._odd_ though. He had a tendency to get depressed, because of something he had never fully explained, and there was only one thing guaranteed to cheer him up…..and that was cats.

The ice mage typed a reply with only one hand, as the other was holding his popsicle.

Gray: you got another cat or something, right?

Zeref: Right! =^_^=

-  
Gray sighed. _'Seriously? I don't care about his stupid cats...'_

Gray: Dude, seriously, you need to act more like a normal guy. And that doesn't include owning 182392 cats.

Zeref: I only have 15…and they're all so precious! D:

Gray: They're not your freakin' kids!

Zeref: lnbsio4hbwfibk u3u3

Zeref: ^Cupcake says that it doesn't matter if she's not my kid. We love each other anyways =^_^=

Gray: She's not your girlfriend either!

Zeref: So what? =^_^=

* * *

A black haired teen sat at his computer, a cat sleeping on his lap. Another was sitting on his desk-although she had been walking across the keyboard a minute ago-, purring for no reason. He smiled at the fluffy cat and petted her, for the 176892275382th time that day, remembering how he had gone to the pet store earlier, like he did everyday, and had noticed the cat sitting in the window. He just couldn't leave without buying her! Which was exactly how he got many of his other felines...

* * *

Gray sighed again. This wasn't going anywhere. He needed to do something more productive than talking with a guy who owned 15 cats. He ate the last bits of his popsicle as he decided to attempt to get some advice from his crazy-cat-guy friend before finding a more professional website or something.

Gray: Do you know any tips on treating a cold?

Zeref: Nope, sorry, maybe you should go to a vet? =^_^=

Zeref: Sorry, I meant "doctor".

-  
Yeah, this really wasn't going to work.  
-

Gray: Forget it. I need to go now.

-  
As he closed the page, he noticed one last message appear...  
-

Zeref: But I haven't told you about my new kitty! D:

-  
_'Yeah, and I got a random girl. Much more important than your cat,' _Gray thought, as he typed something into the Google search bar.

_Thud._

Gray turned around, shocked by the loud noise.

Ookami had apparently accidentally rolled off the couch, as she was now laying on the floor. The ice mage walked over and kneeled next to her, reaching to pick her up and put her back on the couch. But his eyes strayed to her face, _'Was she this pretty_ _before?'_ He paused, staring at her, '_Wait, did I actually just think that?'__  
_

"N-na..." she murmured, her eyes fluttering open.

Crap, she must of waken up. He jerked his hand back, almost losing his balance.

"N-Natsu...?"

_'Huh? She thinks I'm Natsu...? Wait, didn't she say his name earlier too?'_

Her eyes closed, as she fell back asleep.

Gray stared at her, thinking._ 'Maybe...she has a crush on him?'_

The ice mage wouldn't learn until a long time later that his guess was completely wrong.

* * *

**Sorry if the OOCish stuff about Zeref was boring xD I just thought it would be fun to write…..And I meant for it to have more un-fillerish parts...but I ended up failing at that xD Tell me if you don't want anymore pointless fillers, okay? I won't mind if you say it's boring. :P**

** I realized that most doors in houses open inward….but who cares, it would've been harder to write that scene. xD /fail**


	12. Happy, the cat, not the feeling

**Firstly….Guys, remember, this is partly AU. Even though I attempt to be as canon as possible, I've changed some stuff, obviously. Such as that it's in a more modern setting, with cellphones and computers (:  
…just felt the need to specify that. *cough***

**A guest reviewer said something about how Gray isn't surprised that Kera can talk.  
I've kind of just been thinking "The whole guild is used to talking cats, so why should they be shocked that a wolf can talk?" :P ****And I kinda just forgot about it…..**

**This chapter barely reaches 1000 words(again ;~;), and is probably boring….but it gets exciting at the end, I promise(or at least, I hope...)~ (x**

* * *

-::-::-At the guild, a few hours later-::-::-

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S AT GRAY'S HOUSE?" Erza yelled, slamming her hands on the bar counter. She had just returned from shopping(for strawberry cake ingredients, of course), and this was _not_ what she had expected to hear.

Mira took a step back, trying to avoid the anger of her fellow S-class mage. "Like I said…I suggested that it would be a good idea if someone took care of her…"

"Suggested? You_ forced_ him." Laxus, who was sitting nearby, corrected before going back to eating his dinner..

"_FORCED_ HIM? MIRA, YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!"

The barmaid glared at Laxus, then turned back to Erza. "B-But they're so cu-"

"Give me a better reason! Think about her feelings!"

"If you're that worried, just call him and say that I changed my mind, and that she should stay here after all" Mirajane suggested, trying to save herself.

"But you didn't change your mind …." Laxus said, glancing at her.

"Yeah, but this is for her sake…I'll admit I was wrong…Even though I haven't changed my mind~" She smiled.

"You know, maybe that's a good idea…I'll call him now." Erza declared, as she pulled her phone out of her pocket., pressed a few buttons, and then held the phone to her ear.

_Riinngg…The phone you are trying to call has been turned off. Press 1 for more information._

"His phone's off." Erza sighed. He must have been attempting to avoid calls from anyone at Fairy Tail who wanted to ask him stupid questions about "how Ookami is" or something.

"I guess you'll have to go over to his house then."

"Right," Erza said, heading towards the guild doors.

"Wait, I want to come too!" The take-over mage yelled after her, suddenly feeling left out.

"Okay, then come…" Erza said, pausing.

"But…I need to be here at the bar…"

"Can't you leave it to someone else?"

"Well, you see…Lisanna mentioned that something was unmanly, and Elfman got angry…really angry…"

"And….?"

"And, we need money to repair the house, so I can't really take time off now…" She gave her usual smile, which didn't fit what she had just said at all.

"But we should do this as soon as possible…"

"Just go without me, then…I'm fine."

"Erza."

They turned to see Makarov standing nearby.

"Yes, Master?" Erza asked.

"I'd like to talk with you."

"Right now?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

Erza sighed again. More problems…. "Okay. Just a minute_."  
'I'll just have to make someone else do it,' _ she thought, scanning the guild for someone who wasn't busy. _'Ah, he'd work…not like he does anything useful anyways…' _She quickly headed to her target. "Natsu, I'm borrowing your cat." She declared, grabbing Happy by the tail and immediately walking away.

"Oka- Wait, WHAT? GIVE HAPPY BACK!"

"ERZAAA! IT HURTS! LET GO OF MEEE!" The blue cat yelled, flapping his wings in an attempt to not put his full weight on his tail.

Natsu jumped up from his chair, a chicken leg in his hand. "ERZA, THAT'S MEAN! LET GO OF HAPPY!"

Silencing the dragon slayer with a death glare, the re-quip mage let go of Happy, who quickly continued flapping his wings so that he wouldn't fall.

"What was that for?!"

"I have a job for you."

"After you almost rip my tail off?!"

"I'll buy you fish."

"Aye! I'll do whatever you want!" A few people nearby sweatdropped, Happy was literally drooling at the just the thought of fish. And to make it even better, they were free.

"Go to Gray's house, tell him that we changed our mind and it would be better for Ookami to stay here. If she's feeling okay, then fly her back here. If not, come back and tell us. Be as quick as possible."

"Right. Anything for fish!" The feline exclaimed, already almost out the door.

* * *

As Happy flew towards the ice-mage's house, he realized something.

A camera would be a great idea. You never know what might happen. Might as well get some fun out of this little job.

Smirking, he quickly turned to make a short stop at him and Natsu's house.

30 minutes later-it had taken a while to find the camera, since he and Natsu didn't have very good "decorating" and organization skills-, he was back on track, heading to his original destination.

Humming a happy-no pun intended- tune(if exceeds can even hum...),the exceed finally arrived at Gray's apartment building.

First, he flew to the window. Partly to spy on them for something interesting, and partly to see if it was open.(Doors were too normal, maybe he had been influenced by his partner, or maybe it was just natural for a flying cat to prefer windows).

10 minutes later, he flew back to the guild, the camera in his paws.

The camera had been a great idea. No, one of the best ideas he ever had. Erza might even give him extra fish.

-::-::-

Erza was impatiently waiting for the exceed to return-Master hadn't even wanted to talk about anything extremely important, he just wanted to ask her something about what he was working on at the moment. He had just wanted to do it right away since apparently he was busy-. Doing this as quick as possible should not take almost an hour.

Finally, the cat flew into the guild, and quickly headed towards the red-head.

She knew something was wrong when she saw the camera.

"Erza, Mira~!" Happy exclaimed, landing on the bar counter.

"Yes, Happy? What's with the camera?" Mira asked, looking over from cleaning a glass.

"Just look!" He quickly pressed the "on" button and held it up for them to see.

The two S-class mages stared at the camera, shocked.

"Did she lie to us…?" Erza wondered aloud, a confused look on her face.

* * *

**Lolz. I love cliffhangers...when I'm the one writing them xD  
Tell me what you think the picture is of, if you'd like. :3 **


	13. Two Photos

**I realized that I forgot the disclaimer last chapter. So…I don't own Fairy Tail….x2 xD**

**OMG GUYS. I FEEL SO GUILTY ABOUT ALMOST ALWAYS TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE Dx  
I see so many people updating every few days, or even everyday, and wonder how the heck they do it. I have the time(well, normally), but not enough motivation or patience. ;~;**

**BUT, I have an excuse this time c: When I finally had motivation, I also felt like I had a ton of schoolwork, even though it's no more that what I had before. So I had to do schoolwork before focusing on writing -_- SO IT TOOK ALMOST 3 WEEKS. UGHHHH Dx And it barely reaches 1000 words, again -_- Can't believe it takes me so long to write something so short.  
**

**But…ALMOST 100 FAVS, ASDFGHJKL;*repeat 23467898 times*  
**

**Oh, and I almost forgot, I fixed up the prologue. I'd really suggest re-reading it, since I added a couple things that may spark your interest a bit more ^-^  
**

* * *

-::-::-At Gray's house, during the last chapter-::-::-

She had rolled off the couch, _again_.

The ice-mage sighed, leaning down to pick her up again. At least she wasn't awake, that would just make this even more awkward than it already was.

But, today sure wasn't lucky for Gray(although that's already obvious).

"Mmm…" she murmured, as his hands touched her.

He stiffened, as the girl reached out her arms, wrapping them around his neck.

Gray blushed; her face was so close to his. '_Crap, did she wake up? No, wait…she wouldn't do this if she was awake…' _

Suddenly, something flashed. _'Lightning?'_ He started, and Lucy let go of him. He quickly picked her up princess style, set her on the couch, and went to the window, which was to the right of the couch.

It was nice and sunny. _'Strange…_' he thought, taking one last glance at Ookami and Kera-who had come back a while ago, and was also sleeping-, and went to his bedroom.

He sat on his bed, and leaned back against the pillows, letting out a sigh. _'Seriously, what was she dreaming about that made her do something like that?'_

-::-::-Back to the present-::-::

Mirajane almost fainted due to the shock and dream-come-trueness of the picture, but managed to stay conscious, also out of shock. She wanted to know why such a wonderful(in her opinion) thing had happened!

"This….Happy, they were seriously doing this?" Erza asked, skeptically.

"Aye, sir! And they had no idea I was there!" The Exceed proudly declared.

"They're…kissing…OH MY GOSH, IT'S SO CU-"

"Mirajane, are you forgetting the problems this causes?" The red-head interrupted the barmaid's fangirling.

"Ah, I forgot!"

"What problems?" Happy asked, tilting his head a bit in a questioning way. "You mean that they lllliiiike each other? Isn't that what you wanted?"

The two S-class mages looked at each other, then turned back to the confused cat.

"Umm…Happy, why don't you go find Natsu or Charle or something? We'll tell you later."

"A-aye…" He quickly flew away, worrying that maybe he wasn't going to get extra fish after all.

Erza glanced around to make sure nobody else was close enough to see, and took another look at the picture. "We need to consider the fact that they weren't actually...kissing...they could just be that close for some other reason".

"Hmm...But still...we need to be careful. Let's attempt to research it a bit".

Erza turned to the barmaid, a deadpan expression on her face, "You're hoping that it's true, right?"

"I know better than that! It's definitely bad!" She paused a moment, then continued, "Well, maybe a bit...". She laughed lightly, smiling as usual. Erza just sighed.

-::-::-Around midnight-::-::-

Lucy had just woken up. She opened her eyes, immediately seeing and smelling that she was in an unknown house.

And then it hit her – Gray. The smell was of the ice-mage she hated so much. She immediately sat up, which surprised Kera, who was lying on the floor next to the couch.

The wolf slayer's eyes scanned the room, taking in the TV, shelves-which had some drawers in them-, desk, and the window right across from her.

"You're finally awake, huh?"

"…." Lucy stared at her partner, her expression a mixture between disbelief, anger, and confusion. "WHY DID YOU-"

"Shhh, calm down!" The wolf growled, standing up.

"Explain then."

"R-right…Uh…."

"You're awake…" Gray said, coming out from his room.

Lucy glared at him, "How did this happen?"

"It was …forced…"

She smirked. She wasn't sure what had happened, but it couldn't have been so forced that a man (oh gosh, now she's sounding like Elfman) couldn't refuse. "Hah, pushover."

"Hey! It's not my fault that Mira would kill me if I had refused!" He had hoped that she'd take this calmly, but apparently she wasn't going to.

"Hmm, is that so?"

Crap. That must've sounded really pathetic. "Y-yeah…"

"Yeah, but you should be able to beat her, you _pathetic_ excuse for a mage."

"You…!"

"Heh…you're such a hypocrite."

"What! Why?"

She paused, thinking of how he used to always call her weak, but said, "Well…isn't Team Natsu one of the strongest teams in Fairy Tail?"

"Yeah…But she's an S-class mage." He was starting to get her point.

"You guys should be, too. How is Fairy Tail one of the strongest guilds in Fiore when one of its main teams isn't completely S-class? Luck. Pure luck."

"Who's the hypocrite now? You're not S-class! And why'd you even join Fairy Tail if you think we're all weak?!"

"Mmm, but I could be. More likely than you guys." She leaned back, crossing her arms calmly. "And I have my reasons…"

"I saw you fight, and you weren't really any stronger than us, what makes you think you'd be more likely to become S-class?"

She smiled. Her wolf-slaying magic was pretty average; it was her fire dragon-slaying magic that was really strong. "That was just one fight; you think you can judge me on that?"

"One fight can't be too different from another."

"That's what you think," Lucy stood up, as one of Gray's randomly placed shirts started floating, "Maybe you should to rethink that a bit!"

"Whoa, wait a mi-!" The shirt hit him in the face, making him stumble backwards a bit.

Lucy laughed. "Serves you right!"

He had had barely any patience before, but this just totally kicked the last bit out of his mind. The ice-mage leapt at Lucy, trying for a physical attack, since using his magic would destroy his apartment.

She dodged easily; she was a movement wolf slayer after all. Her back was to the wall where the TV and shelves were. Gray was in front of her, an annoyed look on his handsome features. "Heh, you're just making yourself look even more pathetic."

The ice-mage twitched, the vein in his forehead popping. "You…That's _it_! You're gonna regret that!" He tried to punch her again. But as multi-slayer hopped backwards, easily avoiding it, she stepped on yet another random article of clothing.

_CRASH _

Lucy's foot slipped on the shirt, and she fell backwards into the shelves with a loud crash. A drawer fell out of one as it wobbled from the impact, various contents spilling out.

Gray and Kera watched in shock, having totally not expected that.

Lucy groaned, rubbing her head. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something on the floor, in the midst of everything from the drawer. Gray must've noticed it too, as his eyes also widened.

It was a photograph of everyone…7 years ago.

* * *

**So, I don't like the argument/fight scene, but I didn't wanna make you guys wait any longer... :c  
But I think it's good enough? :D  
I almost completely forgot about how she like, "absorbs" movement. -_- But I couldn't really find a place to fit in good in this chapter. :P  
**

**A couple things will probably be confusing-such as how they were at the right angle for it to look like they were kissing-, but that'll be explained later. I don't feel like trying to fit it in this chapter.  
**

**I apologize for making Mira so stupid, lol. And I also apologize for having a hard time remembering to not call her Mira so much xD But I like "Mira" better than "Mirajane"…..**

**Oh, and, probably 4 more chapters till you guys finally get to see Lucy kicking Natsu's ass(I've never said anything like that, so it sounds weird xDD). I know a lot(if not all…) of you are waiting for that part~ :3 And I promise I'll improve my action scene skills before it, lol. **

**And…I'd say you guys shouldn't expect more than 2 or 3 chapters in the next month and a half. ;_; I just keep putting off writing till later, _and_ I'll be busy….  
**


	14. Author's Note

**Hi. /awkward**

…**..Oh my gosh, _oh my gosh_, you guys probably hate me now. I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M TAKING LIKE, 2 MONTHS TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER. Ugh. Don't be surprised if it takes this long for the rest of the chapters too ._. I have so many other fic ideas, so I want work on them, and I'm kinda losing interest in LAVFR(but don't worry, I won't abandon it :3), but overall I just CAN'T WRITE. Ugh. I always get stuck on little things and just give up instead of focusing on it long enough to figure out how to write it. **

**I keep opening the Word doc I'm writing it in, but then I get distracted and end up closing it a few hours later…**

**I feel terrible writing this A/N, but I realized that it's better than just letting you guys wait ;n;**

**So, I only have like, 320 words written for the next chapter...but it should be up soon…but then again, I told someone that almost a month ago -_-  
**


	15. Memories

**Hey guys :D I'm really happy I'm finally posting this. :3  
I was starting to think I'd never finish this -_- And it's just been a month since I posted that announcement/author's note! :D  
…I fail ;~;  
**

**BUT….IT'S ALMOST 2,600 WORDS WITHOUT THE A/N. O_O  
Since it's like, two chapters, take it as an apology for having to waiting so long :3  
**

**I really hope there's no plot holes…I keep having to re-read the other chapters to remember what I've written ._. **

** I don't own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

All three of them stared at the photograph, everything else forgotten for the moment.

"T-this…" Lucy stuttered, sitting up straight. She never expected him to have a picture from that long ago.

"Uh…This is nothing!" Gray exclaimed, quickly bending down to grab the small piece of paper.

"Wait!" She blurted, grabbing his arm, but immediately letting go. He looked at her in surprise.

After hesitating a moment, she asked, "W-what is this picture?" Curiosity took over her hatred; she wanted to know what had happened after her "death". What would he say? He'd probably deny everything- like he would've 7 years ago.

The ice-mage's face darkened, although for a moment he looked slightly sad. "Classified information."

"Aw, c'mon, you can't say _anything_?" Kera asked, looking annoyed.

Gray glared at her. "It's obviously the main guild members when we were younger, can't you tell?"

"And that is classified information because….?"

"This is exactly why! You're gonna start asking stupid questions!"

"How was that a stupid question?! And that makes your view of me sound _so_ great!" The wolf flexed her claws.

Gray noticed, and tried to casually move a bit farther from the large animal, making said animal and Lucy smirk. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Why do you care so much anyways?"

"Classified information," Kera stated, smiling as good as a wolf can.

Gray looked surprised, but his expression quickly turned back to anger and annoyance. "You…"

"Me what? It's obvious that we just want to know out of curiosity".

Trying to stay calm, he said, "I told you what it is, and that's all you asked for".

"Yeah, and we want to know more. Is there a problem with that?"

"You don't have a good reason".

At this, Kera and Lucy looked at each other. Gray narrowed his eyes. "You guys look like you're hiding something".

"H-huh? Of course not." Lucy said, trying to sound convincing.

Gray stared at her, trying to tell if she was lying. His gray eyes scanned her face, taking in every detail.

…Maybe a bit _too_ much, just for trying to decide if she was lying.

After a few moments, her confident expression started fading to be replaced by a mixture of confusion and worry. Why was he looking at her so closely? Had he noticed she looked familiar? Or had he realized she was lying?

The ice-mage blushed lightly. She was…cute…when she was worried.  
Kera noticed, but just made a mental note to keep an eye on him. This could get complicated.

"Why are you staring at me?" Her confident expression had returned, and she looked somewhat annoyed.

The question made Gray start, realizing what he was doing. "Uh…sorry."

'_Surely it can't hurt to tell her…?' _He may not like her partner, but that didn't affect whether he liked Ookami or not. At least, not much.

"Okay…" She said, now feeling kind of awkward.

"Um…I guess I'll tell you about the picture, after all." Gray said, looking away.

Lucy looked at him, surprised. He was being nice now…?

Kera came over, sitting next to Lucy, and Gray sat across from them.

"W-well…" He looked at the photo, trying to keep all the memories from flooding his mind. "I think this was taken after one of the guild's usual parties…"

"What about the blonde girl?" Kera asked, getting straight to the point, "I don't remember seeing anyone who looked like her."

He moved his finger to Lucy, who was standing off to the side, with Levy and Erza on either side of her. She was smiling, but looked sad, as if she was smiling just for the picture. A wave of guilt washed over Gray as he thought of how it was usually him and Natsu who had kept her from being happy. "This is Natsu's twin sister…Lucy."

Lucy stared at him. He was actually talking about this…it felt weird to hear it. And it made her nervous. She'd never thought she'd have this conversation. "And…where is she now?" She ventured to ask. "On a job?"

"She's…_gone_."

Silence filled the room; nobody knew what to say.

"…How?" Lucy finally asked, breaking the silence.

"R-right…" Gray said, pausing a moment to wonder what he should say…'_The truth? Say that it was partly because of me? Or lie? Say that she just accidentally fell off a cliff?' _ "She fell off a cliff."

Kera glared at him again, startling the ice-make mage as he glanced at her.

"What's your problem? I told you, what more do you want?" Gray asked, feeling as if he was repeating himself from earlier.

"Haven't you learned by now that SIMPLE ANSWERS AREN'T ENOUGH?"

He sighed, looking at Ookami. He couldn't tell what she was thinking…"Well, what do you think, do you agree with your _wolf_ that "simple answers aren't enough"?"

"Umm…A longer explanation would be nice…please?" She added, looking at him.

"…You asked nicely, so I guess I'll do it." He said, flashing a smile at Kera. "Well…you see…I was…d-different then…"

"This isn't about you."

"Shut up if you want to hear this."

"…and, a while after Erza had sent Natsu to apologize to her, we decided that they'd been gone too long." He stopped there, wondering how he'd gotten so caught up in talking. Ookami was blankly staring at him, Kera was listening closely.

"Con-"

"Right," he cut off Kera, and, taking a deep breath, continued.

-::-::-Flashback-::-::-

"_Hey, haven't they been gone a while?" Gray asked, looking at Levy and Erza. "I want to get back to the guild…" _

"_Hmm…You're right, let's go look for them." Erza said, immediately heading in the direction the twins had gone, Levy and Gray quickly following. "…Wait, where exactly did they go?"_

"_Maybe that path?" Levy answered, pointing at a path leading into the woods up in the mountains._

_It was easy to guess where they'd gone after that; the path was quite easy to follow._

"…_What is that noise?" _

"_It sounds like someone crying…"_

"_I bet it's Lu-chan!" Levy exclaimed, running ahead. As she turned a corner, she came to a dead-stop._

"_What's wrong?" Erza asked, coming up, Gray right behind her. _

_Her question answered itself as she looked straight ahead._

_There was Natsu, kneeling at the edge of the cliff. Lucy was nowhere in sight. _

"_Hey, Flamebrain, what are you doing?" The ice-make mage asked, walking closer. _

_Natsu turned his head the opposite way. "Lucy…" _

"_What about her? Heh, did she run farther and leave you behind?"_

"…_D-do people survive falling off cliffs?" The distressed boy asked, trying to ignore Gray._

"_You want to commit suicide? Whoa, that's extreme."_

"_Gray, shut up. Natsu, what do you mean?" Erza asked, with her usual strict tone of voice._

_There was silence._

"_Natsu…answer me." _

_The boy stood up, wiping the back of his hand across his face. He then turned to them, pointing at the cliff. "She got knocked off." His voice wavered, but was matter-of-fact._

_The words were plain and simple, but shocking. _

_Levy, who had been quiet for a while, let out a sob. Gray raised an eyebrow. Erza's eyes widened slightly. "…Stop playing tricks."_

_"I'm not!" Natsu exclaimed, accidentally letting a tear fall down his face._

_They all stared at him. Even he wouldn't go so far as to _cry_ if he was just joking. _

"_Natsu…are you serious?" Levy cautiously asked._

-::-::-Flashback end-::-::-

"So, then he explained how she had been knocked off the cliff by the boulder. We were all shocked, and Erza threatened to kill him if he was joking. She also made me and Levy run to the guild to get help. We returned with several people, and, after while, managed to all get to the bottom of the cliff by combining our magic. It was a pretty narrow gorge; just wide enough that Lucy hadn't hit the other side. It was deep and dark, so you couldn't see the bottom when at the top. Anyways, all we found was some blood, and Natsu, with his strong sense of smell, managed to track it, but lost it at a river." Gray stopped, taking a deep breath. He'd _really_ gotten carried away. "We continued searching for a couple weeks, but never found her or a wolf, or anything else related to it. We may have found more if the snow hadn't been so heavy, covering all the scents."

His tiny audience still had the same expressions.

"So,-don't kill me-," he added, looking at the wolf, "we decided she had been…eaten."

Kera looked insulted. Both of them could remember why there was blood – Lucy had just had a few cuts and bruises. Plus, the rock had hit her arm, almost breaking it.

"That's…sad…" Lucy said, wondering why Gray had told her all this. She'd always wondered what had happened, but never expected it would be one of the people who caused it who'd be the one to tell her. She wasn't sure what to think…

"Oh, and to finish up the story, we had a funeral after about 2 weeks – it was just simple, but I'm sure she would've appreciated it."

Lucy smiled. If only Gray knew that she _did_ appreciate it. If only he knew he'd been talking to the person he was talking about this whole time…_and_ her "killer". She chuckled at the thought, making the other two look at her strangely.

Gray looked up at a clock on the wall, and saw that it was 1 AM. "Ah…we should probably get some sleep, then we can go back to the guild, if you're feeling okay."

"Oh, you're right." Lucy stood up, switching to the couch again.

Gray yawned. "Try not to fall off anymore."

"Huh?"

-::-7 AM-::-

Lucy had barely been able to sleep. Various thoughts clouded her mind. She kept thinking of what Gray had said…had Natsu really been crying? It was impossible for her to believe, because of how much he had seemed to hate her…but then again, he seemed so different now…and he actually seemed to like her now. Well, her fake identity.

Oh well, anyone would be affected by what had happened. She still wanted revenge. He _had_ pretty much ruined her childhood.

Though, in a way, she wished she could thank him; she'd never be as strong as she was now without him calling her weak, after all.

-::-::-::-

Gray also couldn't sleep. He was surprised at himself for talking so much about Lucy, and his thoughts were focused on her now. Neither he nor Natsu would admit it, but her death had really changed them. And Erza might've had a bit to do with it too. He never again wanted to experience being chased by a demon-like girl with a sharp sword…

Sighing, he realized he was thirsty. Gray got up and opened his door as quietly as possible. Lucy sat up and looked at him. Kera seemed to have been able to fall asleep.

"Oh…were you awake?" Gray asked, hoping he hadn't woken her.

"Yeah..."

"…I was going to get a drink, do you want one too?"

"No thanks…"

Gray went to his kitchen, filled a glass with ice-cold water and took a sip. "Do you feel fine?"

"Mhm, yeah."

"We should probably go back to the guild then," he said, taking another sip, "Mira will be disappointed, heh."

"Yeah." Lucy awkwardly laughed. Since she wasn't sick, shocked and angry at being here, or focused on what Gray was saying about her "death", she was more nervous about being with him. If he knew who she was, would he tease her like in the past? She remembered those times all too well.

"Then," Gray said, setting his cup in the sink and coming out from the kitchen, "let's go."

He grabbed the medicine Mira had given him for Ookami, that had turned out to not be needed. Lucy woke Kera, who grumbled about how she had brought their stuff over here for nothing.

It didn't take long for them to be ready to leave, and the three were all standing by the door.

Gray stopped, with his hand on the doorknob, "I just remembered something. Mira said that for however many days you stay here, she'd buy me ice cream and ban hot things, including Natsu, from the guild for that many days afterwards..." Turning to her, a strange glint in his eye, "so...will you stay longer?"

"No."

"Whyy?" Gray moaned, knowing he should've guessed she would never have agreed.

"Only a small part of that reward appeals to me, the rest doesn't."

_'She must mean that she'd like hot things banned from the guild? 'cause it can't be that she wants Natsu banned, and she wouldn't care if I get ice cream...' _"Come on, I'll share my ice cream...!"

She gave him such a disgusted look that he immediately decided to give up.

-::-::-::-

Mirajane _was_ pretty disappointed. But, she was satisfied enough with the picture Happy had gotten. "Did anything happen~?"

"What? No." Gray replied.

"Ara, ara..." The matchmaker murmured, smiling knowingly.

"So, are you going to stick with your promise?"

"Oh...but she wasn't even at your house for 24 hours..."

"It still counts!" Gray insisted, determined to get something out of this.

"I guess I'll keep my promise..." And left to get paper to hang up a sign on the door saying spicy things and Natsu weren't allowed before most of the guild members got there. It was for less than 24 hours, so it wouldn't really affect much. And Freed currently wasn't at the guild, so she couldn't get him to set up runes.

Lucy, who had stayed silent that whole time, followed the take-over mage. "Mira, why did you do that?! You know I ha-"

"I'm sorry, I got carried away...I'll remember next time, I promise."

Lucy just sighed and angrily went back to where she had left Kera at the bar, leaving Mira to wonder why she still said she hated Gray if they had possibly been kissing...or maybe Lucy didn't even know? _'Hehe, such a complicated love story...'_

-::-::-::-

A while later, Natsu arrived at the guild, almost not stopping to read the sign on the doors. His jaw dropped, then the dragon slayer kicked open the door, yelling something about if it was true or not.

His rival was sitting in the middle of the guild, eating ice cream. As Natsu burst through the door, Gray stood on the table, pointing his spoon at the pink-haired boy. "YOU, THE FLAME-BRAINED IDIOT OVER THERE!"

"POPSICLE! DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS?" Natsu yelled, leaping at Gray, his fist on fire.

Gray simply dodged, making his attacker lose his balance. "You do realize that the sign clearly said that you aren't allowed here, right?"

"WHY? And what's gonna happen if I stay?" Obviously, Natsu forgot what Mirajane had said to bribe Gray before.

"That is for you to guess, and us to know. Now, leave. Unless you want to face the demon over there..." he figured Mira would help enforce the "No Natsu" rule, since she had started it.

Natsu glanced in the direction Gray was pointing, and saw Mirajane looking at him with a dark aura. "R-right..." He ran back out the door, yelling "THIS HAD BETTER NOT BE A JOKE!" and wondering why Gray seemed to be so in charge. He should've stayed...but Mira looked serious. He stood outside the guild for quite a while, deciding whether or not to go back in...finally deciding not to.

-::-::-Two months later-::-::-

"Lucy...I'm not who I was then..." Natsu whispered to himself, sighing.

* * *

**I kinda rushed the end…it really sucks T_T  
And I couldn't think of a really good cliffhanger...  
**

** I'll probably have another flashback from Natsu's POV in the next chapter(it seemed weird to have thoughts by him when Gray was supposed to be talking…), which is about how Natsu feels about all this. Then the next ones should be pretty exciting, I promise ;D**

**OMG guys...The next chapter has a…_TWO-MONTH _TIME-SKIP! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Lol how did I spend 13 chapters on 3 days  
I'm worried it'll seem to be going too fast then though….-_-  
**

**Oh and just so you guys know, in the 2nd chapter, I had said that Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus had all found the wolf scent. But, I realized that I don't want Gajeel to have been there(it's just too early compared to when he canon-ly joined the guild), and Laxus would've usually been off on a job, probably. So…I changed it to just Natsu. And fixed a couple grammar problems and stuff in the chapter :P Including the fact that they had apparently only looked for her once, then just gave up…? -_-**

** I feel like Lucy's feelings are too conflicting…one moment she's fine with Gray and Natsu, the next she hates them. *sigh***

** And I'm worried I'm giving Kera too many lines…I personally hate it when people use their OCs way too much in their fics, and I feel like that's what I'm doing :\**

** I managed to write/plan out a good amount of the next two chapters, so they should be done quicker…  
…Do you guys even believe me anymore when I say I'm gonna update quick? xD  
'cause you probably shouldn't.**


	16. I'm Not Who I Was

**It's been 5 months since I last updated this. Ugh. **

**When people take forever to update, I always forget what has happened, and lose interest... so I know I'm losing readers ;~;**

**I still check LAVFR's stats almost everyday though… **

**This chapter is probably pretty boring, but it's important.**

**I think pretty much all of you hate Natsu…Because I've really only portrayed him as mean…so you guys probably won't like this chapter…I should've explained his feelings better a lot earlier :/**

* * *

Two months had passed. Those first few days were crazy, but life was pretty normal now, surprisingly. Lucy reluctantly went on more jobs with Team Natsu, and practiced with Kera deep in the woods. Nobody else had found out who she was, at least that she knew of. She was getting used to being back here. She and Kera were still camped out in the woods, seeing no need for renting an apartment.

* * *

Natsu was surrounded by darkness. No matter where he looked, all he saw was black. Pitch black. As if he couldn't see at all.

There was sound though; a quiet sobbing. It seemed to be coming from every direction, surrounding him…just like the darkness.

Suddenly, there was a piercing scream. He looked around in panic, but, just like the sobbing, he couldn't tell which direction it came from.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, jerking awake. A blue tail was waving back and forth in front of him, occasionally smacking his face. Natsu sat up, dumping Happy headfirst off his chest.

"Natsuuuu…what was that for?" The blue cat asked, yawning.

"Your damn tail…" He suddenly remembered what had just happened and sighed in relief. '_It was just a dream…' _

He'd had similar dreams before, but not for a while. He'd thought he was finally free from them…free from Lucy's scream as she fell to her death.

But he could never stop himself from thinking about it after he was reminded. It would just stay there in the back of his mind all day, pestering him until he finally gave in.

Happy had fallen back asleep on his lap, and Natsu stared at him, depressed. His cat didn't seem to have any problems at all…it actually made him kind of jealous.

Natsu always acted happy and idiotic, so nobody ever suspected that he _wasn't_ a complete happy-go-lucky idiot who could only occasionally be serious when fighting enemies.

Other than on his sister's death anniversary and their birthday. He never went to the guild on those days…for the first couple years, his friends had tried to cheer him up, but eventually gave up and realized it was better to leave him alone.

Although, this year would be special…his 15th birthday. If Lucy was still alive, would she have actually beat him by now? Or would she still just be a weak crybaby? Or…would they have completely forgotten about the promise? It really only stood out because it was right before her death…he hadn't even really meant it. And, it wasn't even a promise…more of an…agreement?

But…now, she'd never be able to be strong. She'd always be stuck as weak.

He remembered the countless times he and Gray bullied Lucy. He'd never thought of how _she_ felt…all he knew was that it felt good to separate himself from his sister.

He hadn't always been like that though – they used to be best friends. Then he met strong mages, such as Laxus. He wanted to be like them.

But they were twins. People thought they'd be _similar_. He wanted to convince people that he was _different_.

So, as a little kid, he thought the best option was to make it obvious that he was "better" by showing that he knew she was weak. And Gray always joined in, since he also thought it was fun.

But then…it had gone too far and the unthinkable had happened.

Natsu closed his eyes and leaned back, sinking into his pillow as he let his mind slip into the past.

-::-Flashback-::-

_Natsu stared blankly into the ravine, not even noticing his tears dripping into the darkness. The scene of Lucy being knocked off the edge of the path kept replaying in his mind._

_He didn't know how long he stayed like that, but eventually he heard voices and footsteps, and realized that Gray, Erza and Levy were standing nearby._

"_Hey, Flamebrain, what are you doing?" Gray asked, walking closer. _

_Natsu couldn't let them see him like this._ _He turned his head the opposite way, to hide his tears, "Lucy…" _

"_What about her? Heh, did she run farther and leave you behind?"_

"…_D-do people survive falling off cliffs?" The distressed boy asked. He usually would've gotten mad, but he was in too much of a daze now to care. _

"_You want to commit suicide? Whoa, that's extreme."_

"_Gray, shut up. Natsu, what do you mean?" Erza asked, with her usual strict tone of voice._

'_How am I supposed to say this?' Natsu asked himself. 'Erza and Levy will kill me no matter what…' Wait. He wasn't supposed to be like this. He usually would be laughing, saying that Lucy deserved it for being weak. But…had he really just more or less helped in killing someone? And his own twin, at that. It was…scarier than he thought. _

_There was silence._

"_Natsu…answer me." _

_He stood up, wiping the back of his hand across his face. He then turned to them, pointing at the cliff. "She got knocked off." His voice wavered, but was matter-of-fact._

-::- End of Flashback -::-

He opened his eyes and realized that sunlight was flooding through the windows. Gently placing Happy next to him, Natsu got up and stood at the window.

He looked up at the sky and sighed, "Lucy…I'm not who I was…'

He really wished he could just apologize to Lucy. He would feel so much better if he could just explain everything to her, and be forgiven…

Gray seemed to have forgotten about Lucy. It sometimes made Natsu wonder if he should just try to also forget about his sister…but that seemed so disrespectful. He'd feel as if he had just reverted back to his old self.

And Lucy had finally been replaced in Team Natsu - by Ookami, who nobody even really knew. Yet he somehow found himself drawn to her…he'd always thought she smelled familiar, but he figured it was just because she was a wolf slayer, and may smell familiar to a dragon slayer. He wasn't sure if that actually made sense, but it seemed kind of reasonable.

The idea of Ookami being Lucy had once crossed his mind, but he quickly passed it off as a stupid delusion. Still, maybe that was part of the reason he felt drawn to her…Although, it was obviously impossible, of course. Just an effect of dwelling too much in the past.

* * *

**Sorry about bad-ish ending and any mistakes. I'm in a hurry :P**

**This chapter is named after(and based on) I'm Not Who I Was by Brandon Heath. It fits Natsu's feelings really good c:**

**I realized that the idea of Natsu saying that he'd think of Lucy as strong if she beat him before their 15th birthday is kinda stupid…I mean, even she beat him after that, he'd still think she's strong… :P**

**I have absolutely no idea when the next chapter will be finished~ ^-^**


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